Idine Espanyas
Aes Sedai
Food sovereignty is a celebration of biological diversity and the life around us. It offers a different kind of vision for our collective future that might be different from the mainstream view. It is a vision that supports the livelihoods of small farmers around the world. As defined by the peasant farmers’ group Via Campesina, food sovereignty is “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute, and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.”
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) recognized this right in the Declaration on Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas by declaring that “people working in rural areas have the right to determine their own food and agriculture systems.”
Why is food sovereignty important to us, in modern Western society? Most of us don’t work on a farm, we sit behind a computer all day or work in an office. As we saw during the past year with food shortages and skyrocketing prices of basic staples, consolidation in the food industry renders our food system all the more unstable to shocks such as avian flu, pandemics, or climate change. Diversity in our food system only makes it stronger, and this month we will discuss the importance of supporting small farmers, biodiverstiy, and rediscovering culturally important foods.
Discussion:
Are you able to grow food at your home? If not, why not? If so, what do you like to grow?
Are you able to support local farmers? If not, why not? If so, how do you support? (Farmers’ market, CSA, etc.)
Share your garden photos in the thread or in our discord!
Sources:
Food Sovereignty, a Manifesto for the Future of Our Planet | La Via Campesina
Food Sovereignty
viacampesina.org
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World is an annual flagship report jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO to inform on progress t...
www.fao.org