Grassroots Activists Call for "Thousands of Cancuns"

Not-So-Breaking-News! Environmental destruction and climate change hurts the poorest and most marginalized portions of the globe most directly and severely.

Chances are that droughts, floods, severe storms, soil degradation and water contamination aren't at the top of the average person's concerns, but poor farmers in places like Indonesia, Sudan and Bolivia deal with these realities daily. The number of people displaced by climate change has risen to nearly 200 million, worse than any migration crisis to date.

Yet developed countries and large corporations have taken over the climate change debate, excluding those most affected from participating in finding a solution. Bigwigs sit in air conditioned conference rooms brainstorming ingenious panaceas to our climate crisis that avoid making us change anything about our production or consumption behaviors.

Via Campesina, the international peasants movement, demands that world leaders take a different approach to climate change - transforming peasants from the victims of the vast problems with our climate to the center of finding solutions. As the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (this year's equivalent of last year's Copenhagen) gathers in Cancun from November 29 through December 10, Via Campesina is devising their own sort of conference. Their campaign, "Thousands of Cancuns" encourages activists from across the globe to push for alternative ways to cut emissions and nurse our planet back to health.

"We call on social movements, popular organizations and all people of the world to amplify the resistance in Cancun and to organize thousands of protests and actions to reject false solutions and to support a people’s agenda for climate justice," reads the group's call.

One of the primary solutions touted by Via Campesina is the promotion of peasant and indigenous communities.

"Scientific research shows that peasant and indigenous peoples could reduce current global emissions to 75% by increasing biodiversity, recuperating soil organic matter, replacing industrial meat production with small-scale diversified food production, expanding local markets, halting deforestation and practicing integrated forest management," Via Campesina claims.

Via Campesina says that "Thousands of  Cancuns" is about more than just environmental conservation, as peasant and indigenous agriculture has huge potential for social justice and poverty reduction, providing employment to almost 3 billion people worldwide and the "best way to combat hunger, malnutrition and the current food crisis."

Environmental justice, indigenous and human rights, food sovereignty and economic vitality cannot be separated from each other, and throughout the COP 16, Via Campesina will be demonstrating outside the conference, holding their own Alternative Global Forum “For life, and environmental and social justice.”

You could join them in Cancun to take a stand against false solutions to climate change (and soak up a little sun while you're at it), but we suggest a more sustainable and affordable way to participate: on December 7, thousands of farmers and activists will host hundreds (and hopefully thousands) of demonstrations and events around the world in support of the campaign.

The mobilizations will take many shapes, from parties to protests. Several U.S. cities - Washington DC, Providence RI, Albuquerque NM, San Antonio TX, Los Angeles CA, the Bay Area, New York City, Louisville KY and Boston MA - already have actions planned. Check out the website to learn more about the campaign, find an event near you and join the mailing list. If you can't find one close enough, create your own!

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