Ancestral knowledge needs to be included in climate strategies – 11/23/2023 – Inequalities

As we know, over the years the predatory development of capitalism has been removing communities and deforesting forests and other biomes in Brazil. But forests and cities are still home to an immense diversity of traditional, indigenous, peripheral and quilombola peoples who have developed knowledge that contributes to the conservation of biomes, produces food and medicine and maintains a balanced climate, guaranteeing the existence of ecosystem services in the territories.

Present in backyards, in fields and in small urban spaces that resist concrete, are the efforts made —especially by black women from quilombola communities, farmers, riverside communities and on the outskirts of cities— to maintain life. Leaders in different territories, especially black women, make a living from crafts, family farming and soil preservation based on knowledge historically used to save lives and adapt forms of subsistence. If there is a standing forest today, it is because communities have developed ancestral and survival technologies.

Thinking about a healthy environment involves, for example, considering how the food that goes on our table is harvested and prepared. Pantanal and Chiquitana women understand that preparing food can be an act of caring for their territories and the environment. In weekly meetings, they gather scraps to build quilts and share recipes with local ingredients that are passed down from generation to generation in their families.

The Associação das Crioulas do Quilombo Branco de São Benedito plays an important role in reflecting and dialoguing with young people in the community about the role of correct harvesting. It also works in sustainable recycling, developing, with this work, crafts that generate income for families in the community.

The production of the clothes we wear can also be done in harmony with the environment. Casa Memória da Mulher Kalunga, which is a space for community strengthening of quilombola women from the Kalunga territory, in Goiás, develops ways of making pieces with river water and dyeing cotton with tree substrates and seeds.

In cities, it is also possible to use ancestral knowledge to preserve the environment. An example of this is the Metarecycling Booklet produced by Coletivo JACA, which considers art and scientific knowledge as collective assets and disseminates popular ancestral knowledge with the aim of developing the potential of peripheral black youth. His reflections include topics such as electronic waste disposal and strategies to combat environmental racism when environmental regulations are lacking.

This technological development and these political actions, however, are not taken into account in the design of public policies. Their absence from decision-making tables is even more glaring due to the fact that, despite traditional communities being the ones that most use historical knowledge to maintain life in their territory and on the planet, it is precisely black, indigenous and peripheral women — the basis of the social pyramid — those most impacted by the climate crisis.

Unfortunately, spaces such as the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28), which will take place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, next week, are led by white people and do not recognize the Afro-descendant and indigenous population as fundamental actors in the discussion of strategies to guarantee climate security.

In 2025, Brazil will host COP30 in Belém (PA), in the Amazon. It is essential that movements, local organizations and quilombola and indigenous communities are heard in the preparation of the conference.

The preservation of territories, respect for ancestral technologies and sustainable development are crucial for a more equitable and environmentally responsible country and world. Amid global challenges related to climate change and environmental preservation, the voices and actions of these communities become hope and an example to be followed.

We will only have climate justice with a serious debate about racial justice and memory preservation.

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