The Indigenous Council of Roraima was among the 20 winners of the 2019 Equator Prize for its work with Seed Fairs.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a UN agency, announced the 20 winners of the 2019 Equator Prize. There were 847 applications from 127 different countries, and the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) was one of the awardees. The award celebrates successful experiences in local solutions based on environmental conservation aimed at minimizing the impacts of climate change and stimulating sustainable development.
With experience in promoting Seed Fairs, CIR works on the exchange and dissemination of heirloom and traditional seeds, conducts training for more sustainable management and planting methods, and systematizes and disseminates knowledge about the traditional agricultural systems of the indigenous peoples and lands that comprise CIR.
Seed Fairs play an important role in strengthening the resilience of indigenous lands, and the space where they are held is symbolic. The Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Training and Culture Center – CIFCRSS, a high school and technical school for the indigenous peoples of Roraima, created and managed by the CIR, represents resistance and work to educate and politically train young people and to continue traditional practices and knowledge, in dialogue with new sustainable technologies. The region where the school is located today was, for years, amidst lands occupied by farmers, but claimed by the indigenous people and finally reclaimed and officially recognized as part of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land in 2010. As a space of conquest and resistance, the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land not only hosts the fairs, but, in itself, speaks to their meaning.
The fairs strengthen the discussion about the conservation, perpetuation, and multiplication of traditional seeds at a time when communities are losing their seeds to industrialized ones. In this way, the fairs work towards the transfer of knowledge between elders and youth to strengthen the culture, identity, and sustainable practices of indigenous peoples. "One of the main objectives is to highlight the traditional knowledge of the elders, engaging in dialogue with the youth and their aspirations, knowledge, and demands," emphasizes the application letter for the CIR award.
The connection between generations and the appreciation of the territory, culture, and indigenous identity are integrated into the various activities carried out at the Seed Fairs. These fairs bring together several peoples from Roraima; in this last edition alone, five peoples participated: the Macuxi, the Sapará, the Wapichana, the Yanomami, and the Taurepang, a moment in which they celebrate the agrobiodiversity and knowledge of their territories.
These are roundtables, discussion sessions, workshops, and training sessions that address topics such as traditional knowledge and management practices, agroecology, agroforestry planting, seedling production, and other related themes. Family farmers, partner institutions, teachers, and Indigenous students contribute to the debates and consolidate the information. The participating schools often take the knowledge generated and valued back to their communities, multiplying this knowledge.
The exchange of knowledge and the appreciation of age-old practices further strengthen the role of women whose knowledge is based on and simultaneously reinforces the way of life of their people. At one of the fairs held, the booklet "The Origin of Traditional Seeds" was developed, narrated by a female shaman and illustrated by indigenous students. The material can be accessed here.
By valuing and encouraging the maintenance of practices with heirloom and traditional seeds, considering generational and gender issues, the Fairs also make it possible to increase the diversity of plants and seeds. In just one of the events, around 40 varieties of cassava, 20 of pepper, more than 15 types of corn and beans, and many others, such as banana, potato, yam, rice, and cotton, were brought.
Thus, the fairs come to represent more than just a space for exchange; they become a space for transformation through the strengthening of traditional and sustainable practices. The communities that participated in the fairs now have and produce their own seeds, which has strengthened the protagonism, food sovereignty, and culture of indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the event has the potential to be held at a national level, integrating traditional peoples and communities from different regions. "It would be a good opportunity to share successful experiences with the inclusion of traditional seeds in public policies, as in the Brazilian Northeast," reinforces the application letter.
Between 2015 and 2018, the CIR Seed Fairs received support from the then-existing Small Ecossocial Projects Program (PPP-ECOS)*, developed by the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN) with resources from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). In addition to these partners, in other editions, the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR) also joined the initiative.
*Starting in 2019, within ISPN, the PPP-ECOS It ceases to be seen as a program and is understood as an organizational strategy for promoting productive eco-social landscapes. Within this strategy, there is an Independent Fund for raising resources to support community projects, such as the CIR experience.
Heirloom seeds, climate change, and food security.
When passed down from generation to generation, traditional seeds are improved and evolve with the environment. They adapt to changes in climate and soil, and resist pests, unlike industrially produced seeds which do not possess the same genetic diversity. Furthermore, working with traditional seeds is an organic method, respecting the environment, which contributes to the maintenance of biodiversity and climate balance.
This form of production still guarantees the nutritional value of traditional seeds, contributing to the food and nutritional security of communities and their sustainability. A heirloom seed generates food and can be planted again. An industrially produced seed, however, cannot. In other words, replacing the consumption of traditional seeds with industrially produced ones, in addition to reducing environmental conservation and harming food quality, also causes the community to lose its autonomy, as it would need to depend on the purchase or donation of other industrially produced seeds.
About the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR)
CIR is a civil society organization that has been fighting for the rights of indigenous peoples in Roraima for over forty years, working in 35 Indigenous Territories in the state. The organization develops activities in the fields of health, education, culture, environmental and territorial management, sustainable production, and social promotion, respecting the organization of the original peoples. And these are some of the main objectives of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Training and Culture Center – CIFCRSS, a high school and technical school for the indigenous peoples of Roraima, created and managed by CIR since 1996.
It is symbolic that the school operates in this region, one of the main focal points of the land disputes that CIR was involved in during its first decades of work. After years of violent conflicts with local farmers, in 2010, the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory was officially recognized. CIFCRSS thus plays a fundamental role in territorial protection, indigenous resistance, and the perpetuation of traditional and sustainable practices.