Ecology and extractivism

Nigerian women farmers trapped between climate shocks and microfinance debt

Microfinance loans were meant to offer a pathway out of poverty in countries like Nigeria, particularly for women. But as climate change makes weather patterns more unpredictable, the risk of falling into further debt falls onto the shoulders of women farmers who face not just erratic farming conditions but social stigma from default.

Capulálpam de Méndez: A struggle for land and memory

After a Canadian mining company challenged a Zapotec community’s Indigenous identity, recalling the ancestral names of sacred landmarks helped reinvigorate their connection to the land – and defend it from extractive industries.

A man in a garden is surrounded by colorful vegetables in this illustration by Suryaa Rajan

Seeds of resistance: The fight to preserve Europe’s peasant seeds

Before industrialized farming conquered the continent, the crops that fed Europe were adaptable varieties that evolved as peasants freely exchanged seeds, from harvest to sowing, generation after generation. Reviving these seed systems could protect our food supply from future climate shocks – if EU regulations don’t strangle them out completely.

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