Statement rejecting the corporate takeover of Embrapa’s Agri Zone space at COP30

From website the National Agroecology Network (ANA)

The National Agroecology Network (ANA) rejects and is deeply concerned about the way in which the Agri Zone space– established by Embrapa (the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) to showcase corporate agricultural solutions at COP 30 in a clear process of corporate capture of the climate agenda– threatens to turn the COP into a stage for greenwashing and the privatisation of environmental policies.

The sponsorship of the space by Brazil’s Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) and multinational companies, like Nestlé that produces ultra-processed foods and Bayer that produces pesticides, shows a clear conflict of interest. The space also has the support of Brazilian government ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Hunger Alleviation. 

Embrapa, a strategic public institution for the country’s food and scientific sovereignty, should base its actions on the public interest and not on alliances with actors responsible for environmental and climate crises. Agribusiness’ participation as the largest sponsor and promoter of debates on the climate agenda is evidence of a misleading attempt to dissociate agribusiness from its responsibility as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Brazil.

According to the Climate Observatory’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals Estimation System (SEEG), emissions from Brazil’s food system accounted for 73.7% of the country’s total emissions in 2021. The Land Use Change and Forestry sector – which includes deforestation and burning – accounted for 56.3% of national emissions, followed by the Agriculture and Livestock sector, with 33.7%. These two sectors alone accounted for 90% of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil.

While promoting its image through ‘sustainable solutions’ and ‘green technologies,’ agribusiness continues, in practice, to deforest, to encroach on the territories of peasants, indigenous peoples, quilombola communities, traditional peoples and communities, and to contaminate people and ecosystems with pesticides and GMOs– impacts that fall disproportionately on the Global South, revealing the true face of its production model.

Agribusiness is not a victim of this process, as it tries to portray itself. On the contrary, it has been one of the main beneficiaries of the collusion between public authorities and corporate capital, accumulating profits and political influence at the expense of the devastation of the countryside and the expropriation of territories. Its narrative of ‘sustainability’ seeks only to maintain privileges and prevent structural change.

Meanwhile, indigenous peoples, quilombolas, traditional and peasant communities, and women, as the true guardians of socio-biodiversity, who through their knowledge, practices and ways of life face the climate crisis, remain invisible and excluded from decision-making and public resources. The presence of companies and entities such as the CNA with their own stands, in contrast to the absence of equivalent spaces for agroecology and rural and forest peoples, highlights the structural inequality that marks the COP agenda.

We believe in democratic debate and the importance of a plurality of actors in a space such as COP 30. However, the asymmetrical power of companies, which are able to finance and propagate their narratives, compromises the fairness of the process and highlights a clear conflict of interest. We will only advance in the climate debate when we challenge the narrative that there is such a thing as ‘sustainable agribusiness.’ Allowing corporate interests to dominate a space linked to the international climate agenda compromises the democratic and participatory spirit that should guide COP 30.

Organisations representing farmers, fishers and foresters are fed up with the privileged position that agribusiness has occupied, especially at a main global event discussing climate change and, therefore, the future of agriculture on the planet. 

We need to debate what model of agriculture we want for the world, and we have the answer: agroecology and food sovereignty. This is a model that guarantees real food, social justice, protection of nature and the sovereignty of peoples. What is lacking are recognition, spaces and public policies that match its strategic role in society.

ANA reaffirms that there is no room for false solutions. Addressing the environmental and social crisis requires confronting corporate power, strengthening public institutions, and building state policies based on agroecology, food sovereignty, feminism, climate justice, and the valorisation of common goods.

Agroecology in the territory, climate justice for the planet!