In our final two of six Beacons of Hope stories from the land–water nexus, we showcase the powerful transformation that is possible when women steer the fight for their livelihoods, food justice, and rights to their land and waters.
In South India, fisherwomen are harnessing community-led mapping as a powerful legal tool for self-determination.
Working with elders and youth, they combine traditional knowledge, hand-drawn maps, and modern technology to document their world and confront exploitative development.
In Colombia, we learn about a network of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous women who have challenged extractive economies, armed violence, and environmental destruction.
Through their organizing, they helped secure a public policy that recognizes care-based governance and cultural resilience as vital to protecting traditional fishing and food sovereignty.
Sea Farmer Theodore Kormin-Kormin Dooling preparing crab pots. Credit: Michael Major, Cultivate Communications.
Sea Farmer Theodore Kormin-Kormin Dooling preparing crab pots. Credit: Michael Major, Cultivate Communications.
Fishers sort and prepare their catch in a small processing hut. Photo: Barry Christianson.
Fishers sort and prepare their catch in a small processing hut. Photo: Barry Christianson.
William “Dory” Johnson prepares to serve barbecued salmon cooked the traditional way over a fire for a community lunch in the Gwa’yas’dums Big House on Gilford Island in British Columbia’s Broughton Archipelago. Credit: Jesse Winter.
William “Dory” Johnson prepares to serve barbecued salmon cooked the traditional way over a fire for a community lunch in the Gwa’yas’dums Big House on Gilford Island in British Columbia’s Broughton Archipelago. Credit: Jesse Winter.
In this Beacons of Hope series, the stories reveal the transformative connections between fisher movements fighting for food sovereignty and livelihoods, resisting oil and gas exploration and extraction, exposing the impact of pesticides and agrochemicals on land and water, and protecting cultural fishing rights as essential to biodiversity.
The stories build on insights from our Politics of Knowledge report, which explores how, in the world of “development,” knowledge and perceived expertise are often used to grant authority and power. It asks critical questions: Who creates this knowledge, who uses it, and for what purpose? They also build on our other Beacons of Hope stories, which have highlighted food systems transformations through insights from frontline communities. From this work, we have learned that the people who live closest to the problems have the clearest understanding of the solutions.
This land–water nexus anthology underscores the interconnectedness of aquatic and terrestrial food systems. Across the six stories, we have explored: How can we build a just interface between land and water with fishers’ and farmers’ human rights at the centre? What are the ground-truthed mechanisms for redistributing power and access to resources? We have also come to understand how fisher peoples, fish workers, and fishers experience the outcomes of industrial agriculture, commercial fishing, aquaculture, and so-called ocean economy developments is essential to achieving food justice.
In the course of this work, we spoke with fishers who are also farmers, academics, donors, and movement leaders. From our global search for inspiring examples, we focused on six stories from Uganda, South Africa, Canada, Australia, India, and Colombia. Individually and together, they shine a light on what fisher peoples and communities living at the nexus between aquatic and terrestrial food systems are up against, as well as their successes and strategies for survival. Drawing on their lived experiences, these stories highlight the local consequences of harmful global narratives and policies from powerful actors such as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank, governments, wealthy elites, and corporations—bringing to the fore important insights and lessons for donors and investors aiming to strengthen human rights, livelihoods, fishers’ rights, and the right to food and nutrition.
The stories and key takeaways highlight opportunities to build solidarity, listen to communities and organizations at the frontlines of the aquatic–terrestrial food systems nexus, and directly fund initiatives that strengthen food sovereignty on land and water.
By featuring these six Beacons of Hope, which demonstrate the power of community organizing and the unparalleled expertise of fishers, we invite funders and allies to reflect on what solidarity requires (see this resource from Grassroots International) and to seek ways to invest more directly in strategies that can drive the changes and transformations sought by the global food movement.
Nelly Canchimbo Carabalí travels by boat along the Timbiquí River. Credit: María F. Fitzgerald.
Nelly Canchimbo Carabalí travels by boat along the Timbiquí River. Credit: María F. Fitzgerald.
Women’s meeting in a coastal village in Tamil Nadu. Credit: Media Collective.
Women’s meeting in a coastal village in Tamil Nadu. Credit: Media Collective.
Fishing boats on the banks of Lake Victoria. Photo: Jjumba Martin.
Fishing boats on the banks of Lake Victoria. Photo: Jjumba Martin.
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