Food sovereignty – towards

localised food systems

Kirtana Chandrasekaran
Friends of the Earth International
 What’s the problem?
• Industrial agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to
environmental damage, with direct and indirect impacts on the Right
to Food and FS
• Yet, the multifunctionality of agriculture means it can address
crises of energy, food, poverty, inequality, water,
• There is not enough new land or other resources to expand agriculture
without massive social and environmental consequence
• Desperately need a return to agriculture that breaks with the
industrial, agro-export, input heavy model of the recent past
• This means we need to change production and consumption and
need regulation of the food system
• We need to relocalise the food system and change power
structures so food works for people not corporations
 Industrial agriculture
“Habitat conversion to intensive agriculture leads to reductions in native biodiversity…. around 43% of tropical and subtropical dry and monsoon forests and 45% of temperate broadleaf and mixed forests globally have been converted to croplands. ”
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005

“Emphasis on increasing yields and productivity has in some cases had negative consequences on environmental sustainability. For instance, 1.9 billion ha (and 2.6 billion people) today are affected by significant levels of land degradation.”
IAASTD, 2008
 Vicious Circle
“The bulk of emissions from deforestation arise when
the land is converted to agricultural production. “
Stern Review on Economics of Climate Change, 2006

“… yields from rain-fed agriculture could be

reduced by upto 50% by 2020.”
IPCC, 2007
Environmental limits?
• Over one third of global GHG emissions
come from agriculture and land-use change

• An additional 500 Million ha will be cleared

by 2020 – mostly from South America and
Sub-Saharan Africa

• Livestock – 8% of freshwater supply

Environmental justice?

Monocultures have
displaced 5 million
farmers in Indonesia,
5 million in Brazil and
4 million in Columbia

2/3 of the poor and

hungry and farmers
YET..

Most of the world is

fed by small scale
farming
Sustainable economics?
• 3 companies control 90%
of global grain trade

• 3 companies control 50%

of commercial seeds. 1
controls nearly a quarter!

• 1 company controls
quarter of meat eaten in
US (prob more now)

• 1 company controls 85%

of layer breeding market
Food Sovereignty
‘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.’
(Declaration of Nyéléni, 2007)

In the urban context this

means the ability to buy such
food sourced locally and
regionally from a network of
diverse retail outlets and
markets, which needs the
building the bridges between
those who produce and
consume food.
La Via Campesina - Six
principles
Focuses on Food for People and
Right to Food, rather than export
commodities
2 Values Food Providers and
respects their Rights, rather than
squeezing them off the land
3 Localises Food Systems, rather
than promoting unfair global trade
4 Puts Control Locally, rather than
remote TNCs
5 Builds Knowledge and Skills,
rather than depending on alien
technologies such as GM
6 Works with Nature, rather than
using methods that harm beneficial
ecosystem functions, such as
energy intensive monocultures and
livestock factories.
 Real solutions
IAASTD - Investing in agro ecological and organic farming,
ensuring poor farmers have control over resources,
creating more equitable trade agreements, and
increasing local participation in policy-formation and
other decision-making processes – Bob Watson, DEFRA
chief scientist

“Organic agriculture can increase agricultural productivity and can

raise incomes with low-cost, locally available and appropriate
technologies, without causing environmental damage”
Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa, UNEP-UNCTAD
IAASTD – 22 key findings
IAASTD – 22 key
findings
What’s in a name?
What’s in a name?
Incredible Edible
Todmorden aims to
increase the amount of local
food grown and eaten in the
town. Businesses, schools,
farmers and the community
are all involved. Vegetables
and fruit are springing up
everywhere. Public flower
beds are being transformed
into community herb
gardens and vegetable
patches.
What’s in a name?
Its not ONLY local…
 ...Or apolitical
Food Sovereignty, including the Human Right to
adequate Food, devolves power to the people

Vs
Food Security, which keeps control in the hands of existing
power holders
It is silent on
Provenance
Quality
Control
Common Agricultural Policy
• Big farms get most money
• No incentives to change to
low impact production
• Tries to create a market for
environmental benefits
• WTO lead – Food is a
commodity not to feed Europe
• No regulation – surplus and
export subsidies still allow
dumping BUT…

• …Its up for REFORM!!!

 Explosion in production and
consumption

Source: Source: World Watch Institute, 2008

Global livestock production will double by

2050, 80% of this is in Industrial systems
Europe’s land grab

• EU-27: Soybean acreage

needed for livestock
consumption every year:
10,582,228 ha
• Since 1996, the amount of
land needed to produce
soy for the European
market is roughly equal to
the area of deforestation in
Brazilian forests
 CAP Food Sovereignty
Movement
What does food sovereignty really mean in Europe?
Change the CAP towards food sovereignty
www.europeanfooddeclarati
on.org

Sign up to take action in Scotland

right now!!!