The roundtable discussion ‘Women from the Cerrado in Dialogue on Climate and Food Systems’, organised by CESE and the Cerrado Women’s Network, was attended by indigenous leaders, quilombolas, settlers, members of pasture and grazer communities, fisherwomen and women from the periphery. The meeting denounced the worsening impacts of pesticides and noted that ‘there is no climate justice without territorial justice’. The urgent need to include the Cerrado in COP 30 with concrete action for territorial demarcation was also highlighted, while discussions were held about agri-food systems and environmental racism, which directly affect women in the Cerrado.
Participants reported that pesticides have become actual weapons of death in the territories, affecting health, contaminating food, rivers and animals, and causing disease, food insecurity and emotional difficulties. Although these women do not occupy decision-making arenas, they hold ancestral knowledge, produce real food, and coordinate community ways of life. They also continue to resist and demand answers about the Devastation Bill, among others. This dialogue reaffirmed the fact that, despite the violence, organising leads to strength and renewal in the Cerrado.