Building Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in Europe and globally –

Proposals for change

Alexandra Strickner, astrickner@iatp.org

Overview

• The concept of Food Sovereignty

• Food Sovereignty in practice

The concept of Food Sovereignty

Food Sovereignty is

the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food

produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods and

their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

Six principles of Food Sovereignty

• Focuses on Food for People

• Values Food Providers

• Localises Food Systems

• Puts Control Locally

• Builds Knowledge and Skills

• Works with Nature

Food Sovereignty in Practice – Promoting sustainable local food, fuel

and fiber economies– Production and Consumption as close as

possible– Agroecological production of food – Growing again old varieties (e.g. Arche Noah)– More direct or alternative marketing

systems instead of a few huge supermarkets– Trade system that guarantees just

incomes to all producers and consumers rights to control their food and nutrition

What agriculture policies are needed?

• No to a CAP for Food Industry

• Fighting for a CAP (and more generally agriculture policies) that favors sustainable local food, fuel and fiber production and consumption

– Redefining objectives of CAP – for people in Europe taking into account people in the Global South

– Regulation that secures access of producers to domestic markets, remunerative incomes, sustainble food production (healthy food for all people in Euorpe), rural development – not direct payments und free trade

What domestic policies are needed?

• At local level (community level)

– Rules that favor domestic shops/main street shops over big supermarkets outside of cities and villages

– Rules for public procurement and public institutions (schools, hospitals, canteens in public institutions) that favor consumption of sustainably and as domestically as possible produced food

What trade policies are needed?

• A multilateral trading system that supports Food Sovereignty and promotes just trade relations

– Back to GATT: country’s right to protect its farmers if applying production and export controls

– Managed trade not free trade

• Stop „Global Europe“ (EPAs, EU FTAs)

What energy policies are needed?

• Policies that truly

– reduce consumption of energy

– Have an impact on reducing gas house emissions

– Respect existing limits of natural resources and

– promote local production and consumption of bioenergy (e.g. Biogas, agrofuel only for electricty generation)

• No to EU Agrofuels Targets

Challenges for us?• Building alliances and coalitions of civil society

groups at local/national and EU level working on

– Agriculture policy/food systems at home

– Environmental issues

– External rade policy

– Developmental policy

– Energy policy/security

– Labor and migration issues

See you in Malmö?

www.esf2008.orgwww.fse-esf.org

Thank you!

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy - www.iatp.org & www.tradeobservatory.org

European Platform for Food Sovereignty - www.epfs.eu

Seattle to Brussels Network - www.s2bnetwork.org

Enlzando Alternativas – Biregional Network – www.enlazandoalternativas.org

Ecofair Dialogue Project – www.ecofair-trade.org