Climate and Food Justice in the Brazilian Amazon: Contributions from Grassroots Social Movements

This paper analyzes the intersections between climate and food justice struggles in the Brazilian Amazon from the perspective of grassroots social movement activists operating in the region. The qualitative research was conducted in the states of Pará and Amazonas, utilizing interviews with social movement leaders and participant observation at various events and activities. The study reveals that discussions about climate and food justice primarily revolve around the fight for land and territories. In this way, the research explores how activists, in their struggle for fair food systems, also become agents of environmental and climate change. However, the research also highlights that the fight for territory, as a synthesis of other struggles, is polysemic. Therefore, this paper also examines the meanings and importance of territories from the perspective of each social group interviewed, considering their intersectional dimensions, their relationships with and perceptions of these territories, and their involvement in diverse social movements. These elements are crucial in shaping the actors' perspectives on their struggles and the meanings they ascribe to them. The research includes interviews with leaders from various social movements such as the family farmers' trade union movement, the landless rural workers’ movement, the unified workers’ central, Indigenous movements, NGOs focused on local development, quilombola movements, movements of people affected by dams, food industry workers' trade unions, fishers' movements, agroecological movements, feminist movements, and urban movements.