Agroecology is political; it requires us to challenge and transform structures of power in society. We need to put the control of seeds, biodiversity, land and territories, waters, knowledge, culture and the commons in the hands of the peoples who feed the world. (Nyéléni Declaration, 2015)
Agroecology gives power and value to the “rural poors”, urban dwellers, agricultural workers, Indigenous, etc. Transformation is needed at all levels in societies. The global governance of food and agriculture is a critical space where to advance agroecology and food sovereignty agendas.
The below documents relate to the work done by civil society organisations on food and agriculture global governance within the global institutions: FAO, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the Civil Society Mechanism for the CFS (CSM).
Global governance
- Food from Somewhere. Building food security and resilience through territorial markets (IPES-Food Report, 2024)
- Who’s Tipping the Scales? The growing influence of corporations on the governance of food systems, and how to counter it (IPES-Food, 2023)
- Resetting Power in Global Food Governance: The UN Food Systems Summit, (2021) Montenegro de Wit, M., Canfield, M., Iles, A. et al. Editorial: Resetting Power in Global Food Governance: The UN Food Systems Summit. Development 64, 153–161 (2021).
- UNDROP – United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (2018) EN ES FR IT (translated in IT by Schola Campesina)
- Agroecology in UNDROP (FIAN, UNDROP series, 2021)
- Global Food Governance (McKeon, 2021)
This article helps lay a basis for the kind of deep analysis of the stakes of global food governance that is required today, under the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and with the threat of corporate capture of decision-making spaces.
Can gene editing and agroecology be complementary? Various formulations of this question now animate debates over the future of food systems, including in the UN Committee on World Food Security and at the UN Food Systems Summit. Previous analyses have discussed the risks of gene editing for agroecosystems, smallholders, and the concentration of wealth by and for agro-industry. This paper takes a different approach, unpacking the epistemic, socioeconomic, and ontological politics inherent in complementarity. Can Agroecology and CRISPR Mix? The politics of complementarity and moving toward technology sovereignty (2021.) Agriculture and Human Values
Woke Science and the 4th Industrial Revolution: Inside the Making of UNFSS Knowledge. Maya Montenegro, 2021. Society for International Development 2021
Serie of podcasts, developed in the framework of the Erasmus + project “Bridging Generations in Agroecology”, funded by the EU.
Podcast 1 – Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the global spaces. Interviews of Nora Mc Keon (Terra Nuova, Italy) and Kannaiyan (Farmers Association of Tamil Nadu, India)
Podcast 2 – How CSOs are organized in the Committe on world Food Security (CFS). Interviews of Martin Wolpold-Bosien (CSIPM), Elene Shatberashvili (Elkana, Georgia)
Civil society organized at international level
- Food Systems for Poeple report 2023 – Multistakeholderism and the corporate capture of global food governance. What is at risk in 2023?
- A Long Food Movement: Transforming Food Systems by 2045 (IPES-Food, ETC Group, 2021) “We imagine what a ‘Long Food Movement‘ could achieve by 2045 if these [grassroots] movements succeed in collaborating more closely – to transform financial flows, governance structures and food systems from the ground up.”
- A Guide to Facilitation in the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) (CSM, 2020) CSM is well described in this guide.
- Civil Society and Indigenous People Mechanism. A presentation. (2016)
- CSM Welcome Kit: Useful Tips on the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
- International Planning Committee (IPC) Handbook (IPC, 2017) “This handbook is intended to provide a brief synthesis of the history of the IPC and a description of its present organization and ways of work in its interface with international intergovernmental processes relevant to food sovereignty.”
- Bringing home the results from Rome. Strengthening the use and application of CFS Policy Outcomes (CSM, 2017). EN ES
- Food Sovereignty Agenda of Transnational Rural Social Movements in the UN Global Governance (Mauro Conti, 2016) EN
- Food sovereignty Turning the system upside down (GRAIN, 2015) EN, FR, ES
- Towards food sovereignty: interrogating peasant voice in the United Nations Committee on World Food Security. Journal of Peasant Studies, volume 42 (1): 73-95 (Brem-Wilson, J. 2015) EN
Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
Processes
- A Guide to Facilitation in the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) (CSM, 2020) CFS is well described in this guide.
Products
- Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crisis (CFS, 2015). EN ES FR
- Water for Food Security and Nutrition (CFS 42 HLPE report9, 2015). EN ES FR
- Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for livestock? (CFS 43 HLPE report10, 2016). EN ES FR
- Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition (FAO, 2016). EN ES FR
- “Using the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition to Promote and Defend the People’s Right to Adequate Food” A Manual for Social Movements and Civil Society Organisations (CIDSE, IUF, LVC, FIAN, 2013). EN
- Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security (CFS 40, 2013). EN ES FR
- Food Losses and Waste in the Context of Sustainable Food Systems (CFS 41, 2014). EN ES FR
- Social protection for food security (CFS 39, 2012). EN ES FR
- Connecting Smallholders to Markets (CFS 43, 2016). EN ES FR
- Connecting smallholders to markets. An analytical guide (CSM). EN ES FR
- Cooling the Planet: Frontline communities lead the struggle. Voices from the Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles (CSO, 2016). EN ES FR
FAO and agroecology
- United Nations Decade on Family Farming – Global action plan
- Strengthening FAO’s Commitment to Agroecology (CAWR, 2019)
- Scaling up Agroecology to achieve the SDG Proceedings of the 2nd FAO International Symposium (FAO, 2019)
- Putting family farmers at the centre to achieve the SDGs (FAO IFAD, 2019)
- 2nd FAO International Symposium on Agroecology (2018): Chair’s summary
- Final report for the FAO International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition (2014) EN ES
- Final report for the Regional meeting on Agroecology in Latin America and the Caribbean Brasilia – Brazil, 24-26 June 2015 EN ES
- Report on the Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on Agroecology in Asia and the Pacific FAO, Bangkok, 24-26 November 2015 EN
Food chain concentration
- The Monsanto–Bayer tie-up is just one of seven; Mega-Mergers and Big Data Domination Threaten Seeds, Food Security (ETC, 2016). ES, EN
- Blocking the chain. Industrial food chain concentration, Big Data platforms and food sovereignty solutions. (ETC Group, 2018). EN
- Too Big Too Feed: Exploring the impacts of mega-mergers, consolidation and concentration of power in the agri-food sector (IPES-Food, 2017) EN
- Who has got the power? A study about Power Concentration and Unfair Trading Practices in Agricultural Supply Chains (FairTrade, 2014) EN
- The food crisis, industrialized farming and the imperial regime (Van der Ploeg, 2010). EN, IT, ES, FR
Criminalization of social movements
- Seed laws that criminalise farmers. Resistance and fightback. (GRAIN LVC, 2015) EN ES FR
- Land Conflicts and the Criminalization of Peasant Movements in Paraguay: The case of marina kue and the ‘curuguaty massacre’ Oakland: Food First & Transnational Institute. (La Vía Campesina and FIAN International, 2014) EN ES
- Backlash and Beyond: The Criminalization of Agrarian Reform and Peasant Response in the Philippines. (Franco, J., Carranza, D., 2014. EN
At European level
- Agroecology for Europe (AE4EU) Policy Paper – “Improving Eco-schemes in the light of agroecology: Key recommendations for the 2023-2027 Common Agricultural Policy“.
- Towards a Common Food Policy for the EU (IPES-Food, 2019)
- More farmers better food. Why and how to put small-scale sustainable producers at the core of the new CAP (Nyeleni Europe, 2019)
Schola Campesina developed in 2019 an online training course dedicated to the global governance of food and agriculture.
