Fight against Land Grabbing
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- Published on Tuesday, 18 October 2011 09:16
16-17 October 2011 - World Food Sovereignty Day
Rome, Italy, 17 October 2011 – As the 37th session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) begins at FAO, civil society organizations (CSO) welcome Saturday’s results of the second round of negotiations on the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, and urge governments to conclude negotiations as soon as possible.
After an intense week of negotiations, 74% of the text of the Guidelines was adopted, including crucial issues for social movements and organizations, like the recognition and protection of customary systems of land tenure, forest and fisheries, and protection of the defenders of the rights of farmers, fishermen, indigenous peoples, pastoralists and nomads, as well as a commitment to not criminalize social struggles in defense of their natural resources.
"The adopted text reflects the fact that we were here, reminding government officials that they have an obligation to ensure our interests," said Kalissa Regier, Canadian farmer, on behalf of La Via Campesina.
World Food Sovereignty Day: “Big business has failed – We small farmers can feed the world”
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- Published on Sunday, 16 October 2011 00:10
La Via Campesina - Press Release
(Rome, October 15th) On the occasion of the 37th session of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) where a delegation of farmers from La Via Campesina will be present along with other actors from civil society to follow the discussions and participate in the debates, La Via Campesina reiterates its demands for solutions based on the principles of food sovereignty. Important issues such as land tenure, price volatility, gender issues and nutrition as well as agricultural investments are on the agenda.
Land grabbing is one of the most blatant and scandalous examples of how the dominant corporate food system is pushing a growing number of farmers and consumers into poverty. The world is producing enough food to feed the population but it does not reach the people because of barriers like monopolized access to the land, the stranglehold over productive resources and the increasingly concentrated control of the food chain. We need the various governments to adopt effective and strong measures to prohibit these practices and to adopt policies that support sustainable farmers.
Farmers at the Committee on Food Security: "No to the corporate food system!"
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- Published on Friday, 14 October 2011 17:32
Media Advisory - La Via Campesina
(Rome, 14 October 2011) A delegation of women and men farmers from around the world representing the international movement La Via Campesina will attend the 37th Session of the Committee for World Food Security (CFS) in Rome from October 17 to 22. Small-scale farmers will defend a food and agricultural system free from the corporate grip.
"We will not feed people by allowing big business to continue to grab land and resources from local communities," says Henry Saragih, General Coordinator of the 200 million-strong farmers organisation La Via Campesina.
While the economic crisis is pushing more people into hunger and poverty, transnational companies are acquiring vast expanses of agricultural land to establish industrial export-oriented plantations, while local food producers are expelled and deprived of their means of subsistence. Kalissa Regier, a young farmer from Canada says: "La Via Campesina urges the CFS to reject the World Bank principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) and demands strong Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in order to guarantee people's access to land and life resources".
Read more: Farmers at the Committee on Food Security: "No...
Rights Against Soaring Prices
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- Published on Thursday, 13 October 2011 08:35
Peasant, indigenous, pastoralists and fisherfolk representatives held a demonstration outside the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, to send a clear message to the governments: land grabbing must be stopped in order to tackle the food crisis and the persistent increase in prices.
The demonstration and press conference took place on the second day of the FAO’s inter-governmental talks around the Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Land Tenure and the use of other natural resources.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report that “Food prices today remain high, and are expected to remain volatile”. This also implies that farmers, consumers and the poorest nations are most vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty, according to the report on the state of food insecurity in the world.
In response to this situation, and as a result of the increasing expansion of land grabbing and big investment processes in agriculture, the social movements’ representatives who are taking part in the talks were clear: “land grabbing and the global food market must be stopped”.