Ana Alvarenga de Castro
PhD Title: “Peasant Women Facing the Minas-Rio System's Impacts, Brazil: a Gender Perspective on Food Sovereignty and Neo-Extractivism in Latin America"
Brief Description of my PhD project: Women farmers are responsible for around 50% of the world food supply, most of them producing in the global South. They are also relevant holders of productive and reproductive assets for sustainable peasant livelihoods. At the same time, they suffer from lack of access to natural resources and food. The PhD candidate dicusses this problematic in the context of one mining environmental conflict (Minas-Rio system, in Brazil) which is part of a neo-extractivist approach onto Latin America, from the standpoints of Feminist Political Ecology and Agroecology.
Professional Experience:
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8 years experience in social-environmental analysis and projects in Brazil. Highlights:
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Consultant at the Urban Agriculture Program (FIOCRUZ/AS-PTA) advisoring small-scale women farmers on agroecological systems in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro;
Coordinator in the Project Adapta Mata Atlântica (REDEH/Brazilian Justice Ministry) mapping and selecting priority spots for improving social-environmental resilience on climate risks;
Environmental licensing for housing enterprises and land and forest uses in the municipality of Petrópolis – RJ.
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Masters' degree in multi-disciplinary program on Sustainable Development (globalmdp.org) – Research on Participatory Management of Protected Areas Boot camps (2012): 1. Atlantic Forest (Water and Soil Conservation Plan for Bonfin area, Petrópolis – Rio de Janeiro); Amazon (The Women Medicinal Plants' Use in Ilha das Cinzas, Pará/Amapá); 3. Savannah (The transfer mechanism of 20% of Niassa Reserve's revenue to the Mecula's District communities, Mozambique).