Labora will be at London Climate Action Week 2025 for a discussion on the strategic role of agrarian reform, land rights, and territorial public policies for a just ecological transition that tackles the climate crisis without reproducing historical and social inequalities.
The , “Land, Labor, and Climate: Agroecology and Agrarian Reform for a Just Transition,” will be moderated by Ana Valéria Araújo, executive director of Brazil Human Rights Fund. ists include Camilo Augusto Santana (Landless Workers’ Movement – MST), María Leonor Yonda (Via Campesina – Colombia), Oliver Gordon (Institute for Human Rights and Business), and Nick Robins (London School of Economics and Political Science).
The event has limited capacity, but if you’re in London and wish to attend, please here: registration page link.
What’s the connection between land, labor, and climate?
The aims to highlight how land use led by communities and popular movements — rooted in agroecological and agroforestry practices — can protect biomes, ensure food sovereignty, and generate dignified livelihoods.
A just transition demands addressing land inequality and extractive agricultural models. Research shows that food systems based on agroecology and agroforestry have high potential to mitigate climate change, conserve biodiversity, and create dignified, sustainable jobs (FAO, 2018; IPCC, 2019).
In Brazil, the Climate Observatory recommended that the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) explicitly include targets for agrarian reform, ecological restoration of degraded lands, and the strengthening of family farming and agroecology as part of its climate strategy (OC’s Contribution to NDCs, 2024). However, such elements remain underrepresented in Brazil’s official commitments.
Globally, a 2021 analysis by the Climate & Land Use Alliance (CLUA) found that most Global South countries mention land use in generic in their NDCs, rarely incorporating agroecological approaches or recognizing the role of rural peoples and traditional practices in climate solutions (CLUA, 2021). This event aims to contribute to changing this scenario.
Holding this session during London Climate Action Week 2025 reflects a strategic decision to influence climate negotiations, considering its proximity to the UNFCCC sessions in Bonn and the preparations for COP 30 in Brazil. The event will also discuss how these solutions can be strengthened through public policies, collective organizing, and philanthropic .
Recently, Ana Valéria Araújo, executive director of Brazil Human Rights Fund, participated in the II Forum on Climate and Nature Finance (FFCN), on the “The role of philanthropy as a catalyst for climate action and climate finance.” Ana highlighted the experience of independent funds and foundations in getting these resources to grassroots initiatives in Brazilian society, “so that we have intersectionality and can think about climate justice from the various perspectives the issue demands.”
Echoes from New York Climate Week 2024
This won’t be Labora’s first participation in international climate events. In September 2024, during Climate Week in New York, Labora hosted the “Workers Leading on Climate: Brazil and the United States.” This session brought together trade unionists from both countries to discuss how workers can play a more active role in climate change and energy transition discussions. The event was held in partnership with the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, Climate Jobs Institute, DIEESE, and Solidarity Center.
A central point of the discussion was the importance of collective negotiations to ensure a just energy transition. Ideally, replacing fossil fuels with cleaner energy sources should be accompanied by a robust plan for creating new jobs with good wages and dignified working conditions, which isn’t always the case.
Outside urban centers, rural workers and family farmers are severely affected by extreme heat and changing rainfall patterns, highlighting the urgency of considering regional and sectoral nuances in addressing climate change. One of the ists invited by Labora during London Climate Week is Camilo Santana, agricultural worker and son of agrarian reform settlers in the Brazilian Amazon. Camilo will share experiences from Agrarian Reform territories in Rondônia, organized by the MST with Labora’s . These initiatives are directly linked to an agenda that connects the training and practices of rural workers with actions in the settlements.
This approach is based on building a popular agrarian reform process that prioritizes the relationship between humans and nature. The goal is to develop preservation, recovery, and mitigation practices that bring climate emergencies into discussion, fostering collective actions that: strengthen the dialogue between rural areas, forests, and waters for the preservation of life and nature; build plans for the preservation, recovery, and maintenance of living forests; integrate the National Plan to Plant Trees and Produce Healthy Foods (MST); and carry out seed collection and the production of fruit and native seedlings for biodiversity preservation.
Pre-launch of the Global South House
At the end of the debate, Comuá Network and Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur will announce the pre-launch of the Global South House, a space for debate and articulation promoted by aligned actors within the Global South’s philanthropic ecosystem, which will take place at COP30 in Belém.
Comuá Network and Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur are two essential organizations working to strengthen local philanthropy and socio-environmental justice. Rede Comuá, of which Fundo Brasil is a part, brings together thematic funds, community funds, and community foundations, as well as organizations that mobilize resources for grassroots groups, collectives, movements, and civil society organizations working on socio-environmental justice, human rights, and community development in Brazil. Alianza Fondos del Sur, in turn, is an innovative initiative that unites independent, locally created and led socio-environmental funds across the Global South.
In a strategic collaboration, the two organizations have been working to strengthen local funds. This is done not only by developing strategies to expand their impact but also by demonstrating the already robust funding capacity that exists in the Global South, especially concerning climate and biodiversity agendas. This t effort has proven crucial for the autonomy and resilience of communities and social movements operating on the front lines of climate change and rights advocacy.
One outcome of this collaboration, to be announced at the end of the debate, is the Global South House. This will be a space for discussion and dialogue, both physical and virtual, promoted by aligned actors within the Global South’s philanthropic ecosystem. Its objective is to foster discussions on financial flows and power dynamics, focusing on socio-environmental justice for communities in their territories.
During COP30 in Belém, the Global South House will be a physical space with in-person and virtual programming, linked to a communication campaign and knowledge production. The goal is to amplify the voices and solutions from the Global South to the world.
