More than 500 people, representing small producers, processors, traders, researchers, certifiers, consumers, policy-makers and supporters, are expected to attend, coming from a wide range of countries including El Salvador, Cuba, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia.
The schedule includes activities such as workshops, a farmers' market, a commercial fair and field visits.
The main speakers will be from the organisations the Latin American Agroecologal Movement (MAELA), CEDECO, AGROSOLIDARIA, the IFOAM regional group for Latin America GALCI and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia. In addition, more than fifty small producers, researchers and policy-makers will speak about their experiences in organic production (coffee, vegetables, animal husbandry, etc), participatory guarantee systems (PGS), education and policies.
The Latin American and Caribbean Meeting of Ecological Agriculture aims to consolidate organic policies starting with the creation of a Colombian national movement and encouraging the interaction between public and private sectors. In addition, the ELAO will provide the opportunity to build cooperative alliances between regional movements like MAELA and GALCI and to make organic farming visible to the general public.
Additionally, the ELAO will host the third PGS Latin American forum with delegates from different countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica. This workshop will revise best practice in PGS in Latin America and consider the steps necessary to incorporate the system into national and regional policies.
The meeting in 2010 took place in Peru, the 2009 meeting in El Salvador.
Source: The Organic Standard Newsletter Issue 124/August 2011
Further information
Contact
E-mail: vielao(at)colombia.com
Links
- Colombiaecologica.net: ELAO’s website
- MAELAMesoamerica.blogspot.com: Movimiento Agroecológico Latinoamericano (MAELA)
- IFOAM.org: Participatory Guarante Systems
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