“The traditional practices of our native peoples have been left aside and are considered a step back, because a model of development based on extraction, exploitation and monoculture plantations has been imposed”, said Natalia Atz, from Ceiba, Friends of the Earth Guatemala.

Ceiba is one of the groups organizing the international seminar on agroecology and food sovereignty, that will take place from August 23-27. Experts from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa

Rica, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile and Guatemala, the host country, will participate in the seminar.

The Agronomy School of the University of San Carlos, the National Network in Defense of Food Sovereignty of Guatemala (REDSAG), the Institute of Agronomy and Environmental Research, the Council of Development Institutions from Guatemala (Coinde), are also organizers of the seminar.

In addition to the lectures by academics on agroecology, the participants will visit peasant experiences that have been successful in the implementation of agroecological practices.

“If everyone used agroecology, a non-polluting activity, the consequences of climate change wouldn´t be so serious”, said Atz. She also said that there are no policies regarding the publication of information about damages caused by chemical products used in farming in Guatemala.

“And the communities end up using these products, because of advertising”, said the member of Asociación Ceiba.

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