Perspectives from the Global South Team releases Executive Report on Regenerative Agriculture during COP30 in Belém

The Max Planck Institute’s "Perspectives from the Global South" team released an Executive Report at COP30, showcasing regenerative agriculture and resilient food systems. The report highlights Indigenous knowledge, land restoration, and climate adaptation, urging policy makers to align with local realities. It includes insights from Global South communities and supports sustainable farming solutions.

The Perspectives from the Global South team (ECHOES) at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology has launched the Executive Report: Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Food Systems during a series of activities at COP30. The report was written in collaboration with scholars from across the world. It synthesizes interdisciplinary research from the Global South, including Andean, African and Asian case studies, to show examples of regenerative agriculture and resilient food systems that are not only sustainable but often rooted in longstanding local and Indigenous knowledge systems. It highlights:

• How traditional agricultural landscapes - terraces, agroforestry, communal water systems, and soil-management practices - provide resilience in extreme environments.
• The importance of restoring degraded agricultural land and mobilizing finance for regeneration, echoing the priorities reaffirmed during COP30.

• Policy recommendations for aligning global adaptation and restoration agendas with local realities across the Global South.
• Evidence from Indigenous, rural, and smallholder communities across the Global South to highlight pathways for climate adaptation, land restoration, and resilient food systems.
• Voices from local communities and Indigenous peoples through interviews and report inputs

Although Parties were unable to agree on formal language that would anchor a fossil fuel phase-out as an outcome of COP 30, the launch of the RAIZ Accelerator (Resilient Agriculture Investment for Net-Zero Land Degradation) signaled a major commitment to restoring degraded farmland through public–private collaboration. Supported by ten countries - Brazil, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and the United Kingdom - RAIZ aims to scale land restoration, map degraded areas, and derisk private investment with support from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Positioned within COP30’s broader “implementation turn,” the ECHOES Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Food Systems report invites policymakers, practitioners, financiers, and community leaders to draw on Global South evidence and translate global commitments into on-the-ground climate solutions.

Perspectives from the Global South Team Activities at COP30

• NOV 11 – Exhibition Opening
   “What the Invisible Dream – Cosmoperceptions of the Forest”
   Venue: Benedito Nunes Gallery
   Artists: Freg Stokes & Goethe-Institut Resident Artists
   
• NOV 14 – 10:00 AM
   “Forest Histories” – Film Screening & Panel (Goethe-Institut)
   Venue: Culture + Entertainment Pavilion, Blue Zone
   
• NOV 15 – 9:00 AM
   Bringing Perspectives from the Global South to Climate Policy Discussions
   Venue: Higher Education Climate Action Pavilion, Blue Zone
   Speakers: Laura Furquim, Edson Krenak & Mariya Antonyosyan
   
• NOV 16 – 12:00 PM
   Perspectives of the Global South – Report Presentation
   Venue: Benedito Nunes Gallery
   Speakers: Laura Furquim, Mariya Antonyosyan, Uraan Anderson Suruí & Freg Stokes
   
• NOV 18 – 2:00 PM
   Turismo Regenerativo: Sociobioeconomia e Gastronomia
   Speaker: Laura Furquim
   
• NOV 20 – 6:00 PM
   Side Event: Reimagining Policy-Making for Climate Action in the UNFCCC
   With Rutgers University
   Venue: Blue Zone 2
   Speakers: Laura Furquim & Mariya Antonyosyan