The closing event was attended by the Minister of Environment, the Minister of Livestock and Agriculture, and the Ambassador of the European Union in Uruguay, among other authorities.

Montevideo, 25 March 2022. With the presence of producers and beneficiaries, field technicians, national authorities and the delegation of the European Union in Uruguay, the closing event of the EUROCLIMA+ Resilient Family Livestock project, implemented by the National Commission for Rural Development and the National Institute for Agricultural Research of Uruguay, took place. The project has been extended to other South American countries through the Confederation of Family Farmers' Organisations of MERCOSUR (COPROFAM).

The event 

The opening panel was composed of the executive director Mr. Mariano Berro of the Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation, Mr. Alejandro Henry, CNFR delegate on the INIA Board of Directors and Mr. José Bonica, president of INIA, who expressed their satisfaction for the work done in the 2 years of project implementation.

Next, the General Coordinator of Resilient Family Farming, Agronomist María Eugenia Carriquiry, presented the main results obtained throughout the process of implementing best livestock farming practices through the co-innovation approach, and the lessons and learning that were generated in multiple dimensions.

Producers Sandra Rodríguez from the Sociedad de Fomento Rural de Vera y Cañas (Basalto region) and Jorge Reyes from the Sociedad de Fomento Rural Ortiz (Sierras del Este region), for their part, highlighted the joint work with the field technicians in terms of the systematisation of information and family work in their production systems, the incorporation of new technologies and, together with small investments, which allowed them to improve the management of grazing and livestock in general. "This opens up opportunities for other producer families and their organisations to participate in new co-innovation processes in the future".

The following authorities took part in the closing ceremony of the event:

• Minister of Environment Mr. Adrián Peña, who highlighted the contributions made to Uruguay's Nationally Determined Contributions, especially regarding the implementation of best practices for the adaptation of livestock systems to climate change and the reduction of their relative emissions.
• The Minister of Livestock Mr. Fernando Mattos, who welcomed the cooperation exercise carried out with the European Union to help producers cope with climate change, and the quality of the work done by the project team with the livestock farming families. He also highlighted the role of technical assistance in building climate resilience, and the high value that livestock products from open field livestock farming, such as the one developed by Uruguay in a sustainable way, have in the world.
• Ambassador Paolo Berizzi, Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Uruguay, who referred to the global impacts that are perceived worldwide with the effects of climate change and the individual responsibility that each person has to contribute to their mitigation.

"The European Union has set very ambitious goals to achieve climate neutrality and to promote sustainable food production and consumption, and the EUROCLIMA+ programme is one of the most important and successful actions in this regard”. He also celebrated the encouraging results obtained in the implementation of best practices that improved the resilience of the farms, without affecting their productivity.

• the First Secretary of the National Commission for Rural Development, Mr. Fernando López, who thanked all the actors involved in the project for the results obtained, especially the producer families, the technical team and the leaders of local organisations. He highlighted the relevance of the co-innovation approach and its long history of implementation in Uruguay, where Resilient Family Livestock Production is a new milestone.

It has also innovated in institutional articulation and shared management, integrating the countries of the region through the actions carried out with COPROFAM and other institutions, giving prospects for regional scaling up of this experience and trusting in the possibility that this process will continue for a few more years in order to close the cycle of co-innovation and obtain even more solid results.

The Resilient Family Livestock project directly benefited 161 people (72 of them women) members of the 51 families, who have strengthened the resilience of the livestock systems to climate variability, maintaining low levels of GHG emissions in relation to the production obtained, and slightly improving production indicators despite the occurrence of periods of drought in the two regions of work.

About EUROCLIMA+: 

EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as well as by the governments of France and Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.  

The Programme's mission is to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting mitigation, adaptation, resilience and climate investment. It is implemented according to the "Spirit of Team Europe" under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). 

More information about Resilient Family Livestock 

• Summary article on Resilient Family Livestock
• Resilient Family Livestock video presentation
• Green Solution EUROCLIMA+ Key actors in family livestock production establish effective communication channels to implement best practices under COVID-19 restrictions in Uruguay    Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Youtube Channel: Resilient Family Livestock Production

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