Scientists recently warned that chemical pollution may have crossed our “planetary boundary.” It was pointed out that the growing use of pesticides—along with plastics and industrial chemicals—have large-scale impacts that threaten the stability and integrity of global ecosystems upon which humanity depends. The “increasing rate of production and releases of larger volumes” of chemicals are already exceeding “societies’ ability to conduct safety related assessments and monitoring,” the study concludes.
It is clear that there is an urgent need to radically shift away from chemical-intensive industrial agriculture and replace the use of pesticides with agroecological alternatives. Agroecology forms a crucial part of the global response to our interrelated health, climate and ecological crises.
As our contribution to promoting agroecology, PAN Asia Pacific had published case studies that documented “The Enduring Narratives of Agroecology.” Featuring 14 stories from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, the book details the successful experiences of farmers and Field Learning Sites (FLS) of the International People’s Agroecology Multiversity (IPAM). IPAM is a research-learning-action approach to agroecology that focuses on small-food producers and farming communities. The case studies—written by partners from FLS’ in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal and Vietnam—affirm that while change happens one farmer, one field, and one community at a time, the cumulative impacts of collective efforts by small-scale producers to transition to agroecology cannot be discounted.
“Agroecology offers sustainable solutions to pressing development, climate change and social justice challenges…As agroecology cannot flourish without food sovereignty, it is our hope that these successful narratives contribute to the burgeoning of people’s movements that are crucial for people-oriented development and for food sovereignty,” said Sarojeni Rengam, PANAP executive director, in the book’s foreword.
Download The Enduring Narratives of Agroecology: 14 case studies from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa
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