Sustainability and sustainable communities

Millions of people live in societies that are participating in a growing movement to take control of their environments, creating “Territories of Life” and regions to strengthen their autonomy and to produce food with traditional productive techniques enhanced by agroecology. Indigenous and peasant communities are self-consciously restructuring their organisations and governance structures, taking control of territories they claimed for generations. The indigenous peoples live in the most biodiverse regions, occupying more than one-quarter of the world’s land area, while small-scale farmers produce about 70% of the food consumed by people around the world. We contribute to the significance of these movements and their potential to influence other communities, extending local and regional networks and markets that are proliferating around the world. The growth of local peri-urban economies and community supported agricultural systems are important bulwarks for the revolutionary communitarian subjects that are demonstrating the possibility of “life after capitalism.”