Browsing by Author "Marielle, Catherine"

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Integral Peasant Land-Use Planning: A Method for Strengthening Local Institutions for Community-Based Management of Natural Resources
(2008) Diaz, Lucio; Illsley, Catarina; Marielle, Catherine; Garcia, Jorge; Morales, Pilar; Varela, Raquel; Roblero, Rita; Poinssot, Marion
"The Program for Peasant Management of Natural Resources and Agrofood Systems is carried out by the Group for Environmental Studies, the peasant organization SSS Sanzekan Tinemi and 19 communities which have jointly implemented a long-term intervention model for advancing towards the restoration and sustainable management of natural resources in one of MexicoÃ?ÂŽs most marginated regions. One of the main objectives is facilitating community based integral land- use planning processes in each one of the communities involved. It is based on the strengthening of local natural and social resources, and includes basic research, peasant experimentation and exchange of experiences, land use planning at community, watershed and regional levels. A permanent effort that spans over 10 years, resulting in learning, training and building social and technological alternatives as a result of a constant dialogue between all involved: Indian and peasant communities, technicians, public servers, foundations, etc. The idea is that strengthening the capacities of regional organizations, community institutions and peasant families to plan increases their capacity for control and sustainable management of their land and natural resources. Cartography is used as the physical basis for planning. Water is the central axis for planning and micro-watershed delimitation allows to concentrate work until it is restored and then to move on to another. While there is a vision of what is desired in the long run, every year a new annual plan is drawn up. In this process, each community has a document with a short, medium and long term plan. In some cases, these documents are being used as a tool for negotiating with government representatives for funding to be alloted to these plans. In a country where communities are normally not consulted this can be an important asset."
Peasant Experience of Rescuing Corn and Other Native Seeds: Defending a Common Good
(2008) Marielle, Catherine; Alavez, Manuel Lopez; Poinssot, Marion; Diaz, Lucio
"The regional peasant organization known as the Sanzekan Tinemi (ST) Social Solidarity Association together with the Group for Environmental Studies (GEA) initiated a project in 2001 framed within a regional program for peasant management of natural resources and agro-food systems. ST and GEA have worked together since 1993 in local management of natural resources in four municipalities in the Central Mountain Region of the Mexican state of Guerrero. The purpose of the current pilot project, the Sustainable Food System (Sistema Alimentario Sustentable-SAS), is to strengthen a group of 80 peasant men and women from 15 communities who conduct agro-ecological experiments and motivate others in the region to join them. Based on processes of ecological plot planning, their milpas become experimental, demonstration plots for developing sustainable practices (organic fertilization, organic pest and disease control, selecting seeds from the field, soil and water conservation, etc.). A key strategic aspect in the transition to agroecology consists of the on-site rescue and conservation of native seeds of corn (maize), beans, squash and chilies, to mention some examples, as regional common goods. A collective seed bank has been established, facilitating the development of inventories of local varieties, experimentation and systematization of different methods of organic conservation of seeds, reflection on more appropriate strategies for rescuing, taking care of and improving seeds, and reflection on the importance of teocintles as a source of corn's genetic variability. Monitoring studies are conducted to detect the presence of transgenic corn, and workshops are held to increase awareness regarding the new threats represented by transgenic corn with respect to biodiversity, peasant and indigenous autonomy and everyone's health. These efforts are coordinated with numerous networks of groups that support agroecology and that have come to the defense of Mexico's corn. These networks currently form a broad-based, diverse movement working toward dignified living conditions in rural areas and in cities, and toward the country's food sovereignty."