In an interview with Real World Radio, Paul Nicholson, member of the European Coordination of La Via Campesina, said that the movement was present in Cancun because the crisis suffered by the rural world and the environment is the result of the same policies that are causing chaos at the level of the system.

“As a consequence of these policies we have a food and climate crisis, and we need solutions. The solutions currently proposed are only a commodification of life”, said Nicholson. Contrary to this model, he raised the need to support truly sustainable policies to address the right to food and an integral development model. This is why he stated that there needs to be a change of the current policies to advance towards a “more local and sustainable” economy.

In terms of the demands of the peasant movement, he said that at first La Via didn’t agree with the Kyoto Protocol because although it had a “good part” –ie. the limits to emissions that caused global warming-, it had others that were unacceptable and implied the privatization of air by granting polluting rights. “It is in this way that we say that sustainable peasant agriculture is cooling down and feeding the planet with an agroecological model of agriculture”, he stated. This type of agriculture is the opposite of the industrial model, which is responsible for over 55% of greenhouse gas emissions, said Nicholson. This is why La Via Campesina points out that “food sovereignty must be the basis of all food and climate change policies”, said the peasant leader.

Along the same lines, Alberto Gomez, representative of La Via Campesina North America, was interviewed by Real World Radio. “The type of agriculture we practice is helping to capture carbon emissions, we are helping to cool down the planet. We, our agriculture, is a real solution to industrial agriculture”, said Gomez.

The leader said it was necessary to revalue the role of peasants and food sovereignty, and to demand the commitment of governments to reduce emissions by 50 per cent and reject the measures promoted in the official negotiations, which he considers “false solutions”.

“False solutions in our opinion are the carbon market and all the mechanisms already implemented and which will be implemented to profit. To enable transnational companies to profit is not a solution, is seeing how in a multiple crisis like this the capital looks for other businesses”, said Gomez. According to him, these false solutions to climate change include GM crops and agrofuels, and monoculture plantations.

In addition, he considered that the fact that REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) and the Clean Development Mechanisms are on the negotiation table makes the climate talks an utter failure for humankind. “We have to find a way, many ways, to dismantle this. No deal is better than a bad deal”, he said.

Paul Nicholson also said that the best outcome would be that the negotiations failed, because “the conditions to have a positive agreement are not being met” in environmental terms. “So, given the current situation, with Bolivia under attack, we believe that a good agreement will not be reached, so no deal will be better than a bad deal”, he said.

He also highlighted the role of La Via Campesina to build a movement based on justice and a more sustainable ecology, able to influence political decisions, and Cancun was “another small step” towards it.

“This is going to be a long fight, we won´t be able to solve everything in one summit. So, with this idea in mind, we want to leave Cancun with stronger allies, and we also want to be stronger and more aware”, he concluded.

Photo: Real World Radio