In the rural quilombola community of Nova Esperança, in the city of Baraúna (RN), farmer Sueli Bessa, 39, remembers that, as a child, the smell of guava filled the place. However, dry periods have become more and more frequent and the fruit does not appear as it used to.  Sueli is one of the community leaders participating until this Sunday (14) in the national meeting of quilombola women, in Gama (DF), which placed climate justice as one of the main themes. President Lula visited the meeting on Thursday (11) and listened to the women's concerns. Related news: Titling of quilombola land in Marajó is unprecedented, leaders celebrate. Lula hands over 18 new titles to quilombola territories. In the case of the Potiguar community, in addition to guava, other fruits and vegetables, which are part of the lives of the 70 families who live there, also suffer from climate extremes. Sometimes with droughts, sometimes with storms.  Due to the difficulties, part of the community had to give up family farming and had to find work in industries in the urban area, which is more than 20 kilometers away. The track doesn't help. The community itself, which also does not have a postal address code (CEP), is not paved. Storms leave streets and roads impassable. “When it rains heavily there, it’s horrible,” he recalls.  Furthermore, there is no regular water supply and the community depends on an artesian well which, with the usual dryness, has made daily living and farming more complex.  Sueli Bessa, for example, sells jellies and jams in the community and at fairs in the city. She dreams of finishing high school, at the school that is 30 minutes away, so that one day she can pursue a higher education course. “In nursing or law, to help my community one day.”  Her daughter, student Suelene Ribeiro, 21, has the same thought. Raised in this community spirit, she says that groups of women and young people are aware of difficulties with the climate.  Search Agronomist Fran Paula launched the book Quilombola Voices: women in defense of the climate Photo: Lula Marques/Agência Brasil. Faced with difficulties faced in all biomes such as that of the Potiguar community, the National Coordination of Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Conaq) launched, during the meeting this week, the 120-page book Quilombola Voices: women in defense of the climate. Agronomist Fran Paula, a health and environmental researcher, was mainly responsible for the study. She says that there were more female victims murdered in spaces where there was an increase in large projects and the dismantling of environmental policies.  The work presents complaints about the impacts of large enterprises invading quilombola territories, which are already facing climate collapse, in all Brazilian biomes. “In addition to complaints, we have a methodological strategy on how to bring together practical contributions to safeguard territories and environmental conservation, as well as resistance.” The researcher, who is a member of Conaq, born in the community of Campina de Pedra (in Poconé-MT), says that conservation actions carried out by women are protagonists of the survey.  “We not only bring denunciations of environmental racism, but also notes, solutions and strategies that women are building to face climate change.” According to the researcher, the book presents environmental surveillance strategies that the territories already use. “We have been monitoring these changes for a long time from the women who remain in the territories all the time and are aware of when the problem is reaching its peak.” Biggest victims Fran Paula says that women are the first to feel the effects and the last to leave the territory. She exemplifies that wind energy plants (conceived as a clean energy alternative) impact the way of life and production of traditional communities.  The advances of large enterprises, oil and mineral exploration, in addition to monoculture farms impact the territories. The researcher indicates that there is a widespread situation of contamination that has affected not only people's physical health, but also their ways of living and the continuity of identities. Therefore, she defends the need for speed in the regularization of quilombola lands. “There is no climate justice without guaranteed territory, without titling for these territories that need to be protected.” Threatened quince Among these territories that are about to be protected is that of the Mesquita community, which is located in Cidade Oeste (GO). According to Conaq's executive coordinator, Sandra Braga, who was born and raised there, there is an expectation that the territory will finally be demarcated this year. There are 785 families in the rural area, with around three thousand people.  The first record of a group of residents occurred in the 18th century. Recognition as quilombola territory only occurred in 2006, when the Palmares Cultural Foundation completed anthropological studies to delimit the region. Sandra Braga warns that the fact that there is no title allows soy farmers to appropriate land that belongs to the community. One of the symbols of resistance in the place is the quince plantation, which results in different products, such as marmalade and jelly. “Families have quince trees at home to celebrate our tradition.” Rural quince producers in the community lament climate variations, with long droughts. Previously, quince yielded more than it does today. Even the fruit was bigger. “My father (João Antônio Pereira) was a great defender of the native forest”, he explains.  Kiss As in the Mesquita community, climate change threatens productions that undermine the very identity of these people. In the quilombola community Divino Espírito Santo (also known by the nickname Divino Beiju), in São Mateus (ES), the cultivation of cassava for the production of artisanal beiju decreased due to the climate chaos.  "We sell in the city's central market. We are known for the beiju", says farmer Denise Penha, 42 years old.  With a population of more than 300 families, the community still needs to protect the cassava plantation from the impacts of pesticides used by nearby farmers. So that the famous beiju continues with the same flavor of organic life and community life. Denise Penha from the Divino Espírito Santo community during the Third National Meeting of Quilombola Women. Photo: Lula Marques/Agência Brasil. - Lula Marques/Agência Brasil.