Women unite to build sustainable landscapes in the Cerrado Mineiro

Meeting promoted by Cerrado das Águas with support from CEPF and IEB is part of the movement to build the regenerative landscape of the Mineiro Cerrado.

By Cerrado das Águas Consortium

On September 20th, the Cerrado das Águas Consortium (CCA) held a Field Day for the Network of Women Builders of Regenerative Landscapes at the Heitor Reserve Farm in Patos de Minas. The event focused on the strength, sensitivity, and vision of women in building solutions for the future of agricultural production and water conservation in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais.

The initiative was promoted by the Cerrado das Águas Consortium (CCA) with support from CEPF and IEB. CEPF is a Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and IEB is the International Institute of Education of Brazil. CEPF is an international initiative that brings together the French Development Agency, Conservation International, the European Union, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Canada, the Government of Japan, and the World Bank, with the goal of strengthening civil society participation in biodiversity conservation. IEB acts as the regional implementation team for CEPF, promoting training, institutional strengthening, and the dissemination of knowledge in pursuit of a more just and sustainable society.

“This initiative was born from a project approved by CEPF, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, with the idea of ​​bringing women, with all their sensitivity, to dialogue and build together mechanisms at the watershed level that can guarantee the capacity to continue producing in the region, as well as the capacity to continue supplying water to local communities,” explains Fabiane Sebaio, executive secretary of CCA.

The action aimed to value the leading role of women in the field, promote the exchange of experiences, and strengthen the collective construction of productive and sustainable landscapes in the Cerrado Mineiro region, being part of a movement initiated with regular meetings with women.

It's a very important movement because I strongly believe that women have more skill, more patience, and more sensitivity to do this type of work on the farms. "So, I believe that the CCA was right precisely in creating this space for female leadership," assesses Mariana Heitor, co-owner of Fazenda Reserva Heitor and president of the Board of Directors of Expocacer.

According to participants, the movement reinforces that women possess essential skills for this process.

The support of strategic partners was also highlighted in the participation of the associate members of the CCA's collaborative platform. Representatives from Expocacer emphasized that sustainability is one of the cooperative's pillars and that supporting initiatives like the CCA's is part of its purpose.

"Expocacer is a cooperative that strongly aims to generate impact in the coffee production chain, and our main motto is sustainability. Therefore, supporting movements like the Cerrado das Águas Consortium is very important and aligns very much with the cooperative's purpose," emphasizes Sandra Moraes, manager of specialty coffees at Expocacer.

The program included a roundtable discussion and the planting of seedlings, conveying striking reflections, such as the need for monitoring and follow-up of planted trees, like coffee plants. “With coffee, we fertilize, irrigate, and monitor growth. With trees, many times we just plant them and leave them there. This meeting made me realize that we also need to monitor the trees, otherwise we won't achieve the results we expect,” says Cassia dos Anjos, producer of the PIPC – Investment Program in Conscious Producers of the CCA.

The Field Day concluded with an invitation to women producers in the region: “I invite everyone to contact the consortium and receive a visit for a diagnosis, and thus, start a partnership and a project within their properties to produce water,” concludes Mariana Heitor.

About Cerrado das Águas

The Cerrado das Águas Consortium is a collaborative platform that includes various sectors, such as companies, government, and civil society. The CCA is an initiative of the coffee production chain that seeks to build water resilience in the Cerrado Mineiro region through strategies that promote better land use, ensuring the continuity of coffee production in the region and mitigating the impact of climate change.

Through the Conscious Producer Investment Program (PIPC), the CCA team guides, supports, and encourages producers in implementing strategies for the provision of ecosystem services, focusing on improving the supply of water resources to all producers whose properties are adjacent to a given basin, making the region resilient to climate change. As a result, the CCA has 202 hectares of conserved native vegetation, 4,000 hectares of agricultural land in transition to regenerative agriculture, and benefits 150,000 people.

The initiative has the following companies as associate members: Nescafé, Expocaccer, Nespresso, Lavazza, Cooxupé, Cofco International, Volcafe, NKG Stockler, Daterra, Federação dos Cafeicultores do Cerrado, CerVivo, Starbucks Farmer Support Center, JDE Peet's, EISA, and X-Farm. In addition, the platform has key partners such as the Municipal Governments of Serra do Salitre and Coromandel.