Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG) joins small farmers, indigenous peoples, civil society organizations, and millions of peoples all over the world in commemorating Earth Day 2022 by calling for systems change in securing our planet’s future.
Our planet’s boundaries are being pushed to a point of no return as transnational corporations (TNCs) and its lobbyists, in the guise of resolving structural problems, introduce technologies and harmful chemicals that poison our lands, farmers, and destroy our rich biodiversity. The top-down, anti-diverse, and corporate-led solutions under the green revolution have done nothing but fuel the destruction of our environment, land-grabbing, global warming, and erasure of farmer’s knowledge and sustainable agricultural practices which for centuries have sustainably existed with nature, fed the people, and gave communities everything they needed.
Up until today, farmers, indigenous peoples, and the poor all bear the brunt of these aggressions. Cases of pesticide poisoning, displacements, and human rights violations occur and increase annually while the suspects behind these continue to benefit from increasing sales and profit gained through massive deception and forceful lobbying and implementation of unjust trade policies and economic programs.
But beside these injustices are social movements providing us a glimpse of what change and justice looks like. In many farms based in the Philippines managed and led by small farmers, it is observed that with freedom from unsustainable technologies such as chemical inputs and resistance against TNCs, farmers are able to rehabilitate poisoned lands, create environmentally apt climate change-resilient crops, develop and enrich local knowledge and practices, feed their communities with safe and nutritious food, and empower peoples to take actions for the protection and promotion of their rights.
The solution in securing our planet’s future is already realized in many communities empowered by their continued assertion of land and food sovereignty. We cannot rely the future of our planet at the hands of those who are determined in destroying it.
On Earth Day 2022, let us be critical and always place the most vulnerable at the front and center of our conversations and actions. Let us collectively save the world by building unities and taking part in social movements demanding for change in systems and accountability to entities which have long been destroying our planet. Together, let us call for systems change now to ensure a safe and just future for all!