Slowing the Future

In a time of great instability in Central America, it’s crucial our work focuses on the wellbeing of the communities stewarding the lands we seek to protect.

As we’ve learned time and time again, you can’t take care of the land without taking care of the people, and you can’t take care of the people without taking care of the land. 

Our agroecology promoters program, in collaboration with local partner Fundebase, works from this foundation within some of the most vulnerable areas of Guatemala. Over the past year, the program trained and equipped 40 community members from the Quiché region, including 30 women, as leaders who learn, support, and promote agroecological practices in their home communities. These leaders engage in participatory training on soil management and restoration, crop diversification and intercropping, conservation of native seeds, and use of natural fertilizers, amongst other practices. 

The program supports them in providing support to their communities through a “farmer-to-farmer” approach that centers ancestral and local knowledges and builds community capacity to organize around shared challenges. Through this approach, more than 90% of participating families have adopted agroecological practices on their farms. 

Ultimately, these practices support families in strengthening food security and resilience, reducing household expenses, and protecting their local ecosystems. The ancestral milpa technique is the foundation of agroecological systems within the program, which integrates a wide diversity of food and medicinal plants. In such a highly vulnerable context, this diversity has greatly improved families' food security and access and reduced expenses. The preparation and application of bioinsumos, or naturally-made fertilizers, has also reduced dependence on chemicals. 

While these benefits are crucial, they are not the only reasons families choose to participate – these communities have been working to protect their lands and forests for generations, and their continued commitment to Indigenous agroecological methods is one of the many ways they live this out. One of the most important knowledges they are rebuilding is the recognition that people and lands don’t have to be at odds. Really, if we are to build the future we hope, they can not be. 

The level of commitment the communities we work with hold towards that future, despite the context they face, never ceases to inspire us.