Agroecology and food sovereignty: struggles for justice and healthy food in urban peripheral territories

Abstract

In this work, we highlight lessons learned from research carried out by Neepes in partnership with CEM and MSTB, which operate in peripheral territories in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. The research sought to support and systematize knowledge and emancipatory practices of health promotion carried out by these experiences, based on four transversal thematic axes: food, care, housing and environmental protection, in addition to communication. In the article, we focus on collective reflections in relation to the first thematic axis, involving strategies to promote agroecology and food sovereignty, with experiences of production, circulation and access to healthy foods. Based on these reflections, we aim to contribute to discussions regarding the idea of TSS, especially through the lessons learned from the systematization of territorial experiences based on the notion of PES, which points to important contributions from the dimensions of environmental and cognitive justice. With the systematization process of these experiences, its ability to resist stands out, based on a movement of re-existence of traditional and community knowledge in urban peripheries, which point to possible paths for the construction of TSS in urban peripheries, such as its ability to promote access to healthy foods in these contexts.