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By Belen Iñiguez (CS Staff)

To speak of food sovereignty from and for Indigenous Peoples is to speak of a food production that is respectful toward animals, seeds, the earth, life, and spirituality. Food sovereignty also implies conserving food, applying ancestral knowledge that enables food to be kept in good condition for a more extended period, without relying on industrial processes. That preservation of food is a fundamental part of the right to decide how to feed oneself.

Este encuentro reunirá a las y los campesinos indígenas, a los y las poseedoras de conocimientos, narradores de historias, preparadoras o preservadores de alimentos, artesanos y artesanas indígenas; defensoras y defensores de los derechos al territorio, al agua, a las semillas, para que los seres sagrados del maíz que nos otorgan la supervivencia perseveren.

Photo By C. Hance - This place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as Dja Faunal Reserve., CC BY-SA 
 

Singapore-based rubber company Halcyon Agri, and its subsidiary in Cameroon, Sudcam, have been exposed in a report released by Greenpeace in July 2018 as extremely dangerous to the Indigenous Baka community and a local wildlife reserve.  

 

Two local protests broke out in the Southwest region of Cameroon this summer in opposition to the New York based company Herakles’ Farms, who have already planted nurseries for their proposed palm oil plantation.  

In the village of Fabe, one of the communities hosting a nursery, a revolt was staged against the company.  Protestors blocked the entrance to the nursery, telling workers that they had put a curse on the seedlings, scaring off all the workers. 

In a great victory, four Economic Land concessions that had been authorized in the Prey Lang forest of Cambodia have been cancelled.  The concessions, totaling 40,618 hectares, would have allowed for the clear-cutting of pristine primary forests in order to grow rubber plantations, adding to a long list of other concessions that threaten the Prey Lang forest.

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