{"id":89741,"date":"2022-02-14T16:52:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T11:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/?post_type=samudra&p=89741"},"modified":"2022-02-14T17:15:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T11:45:42","slug":"seeds-that-cant-be-buried","status":"publish","type":"samudra","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/samudra\/seeds-that-cant-be-buried\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeds that Can\u2019t Be Buried"},"content":{"rendered":"
United Nations \/ Food Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n Seeds that Can\u2019t Be Buried<\/strong><\/p>\n A counter-mobilization event in July 2021 united social movements, indigenous peoples and civil society organizations opposed to the UN Food Systems Summit<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This article is by\u00a0Magdalena Ackermann Aredes<\/strong>\u00a0(mackermann@sidint.org<\/a>), Policy and Advocacy Officer, Food Systems, Nutrition and Agroecology, Society for International Development (SID);\u00a0Charlotte Dreger<\/strong>\u00a0(dreger@fian.org<\/a>), Policy and Advocacy Officer, Sustainable Food Systems, FIAN International; and\u00a0Marion Girard<\/strong>\u00a0(marion.girard.cisneros@csm4cfs.org<\/a>), Communications Officer, Secretariat of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Mechanism (CSM)<\/p>\n From 2019 until 2020, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 report, the number of those suffering from hunger increased by 161 mn to total 811 mn people globally. While hunger has been on the rise since 2014, the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating pre-existing inequalities, pushing millions of people to the brink of survival and demonstrating the ongoing crisis of public systems.<\/p>\n Moreover, the multidimensional crisis that populations around the world are facing has exposed the longstanding tension between two alternative views of food and food systems. On the one hand, there is the increasing industrialization of agriculture and food production and distribution, which goes hand in hand with increasing corporate capture of our food systems.<\/p>\n This dominant model threatens the survival of all species, including our own, through existential threats, including the climate crisis, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, land degradation and water pollution, and countless human-rights violations. On the other hand, community-based, localized and diverse food systems have shown their resilience in the face of climate-crisis-induced extreme weather events, as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n … community-based, localized and diverse food systems<\/strong> These food systems are clearly the way forward for regaining people\u2019s control over the food they produce and consume.<\/p>\n It is in this context that the United Nations held the Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) on 23 September 2021. Organized alongside the UN General Assembly in New York, the Summit\u2019s goal was to maximize the benefits of a food-systems approach across the entire 2030 agenda, to mitigate global hunger and climate change. However, the UNFSS does not intend to address the food crisis caused by COVID-19, nor the structural causes of unsustainable, unhealthy and unjust food systems. It does not seek to redress the underlying power imbalances in food production, distribution and consumption.<\/p>\n Since the Summit\u2019s announcement in December 2019, there has been a backlash from over 550 civil society organizations (CSOs) due to the close ties of the Summit\u2019s organizers with corporate actors, especially through the partnership of the UN with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the appointment of the president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) as its Special Envoy. This protest culminated in a mostly virtual counter-mobilization from 25 to 28 July 2021, when some 9,000 people gathered to oppose the UNFSS Pre-Summit.<\/p>\n Corporate agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n During the counter-mobilization, social movements, Indigenous Peoples and CSOs, through the People\u2019s Autonomous Response to the UNFSS\u2014a platform of 330 organizations\u2014denounced the corporate food-systems agenda promoted by the UNFSS, and defended the work accomplished over the past 70 years to build a multilateral, democratic and civic space for human rights within the UN. The alternative forum drew together a wide variety of attendees and was able to catalyze and amplify a counter-narrative to the official proceedings, while also showcasing its vision for genuine transformation of unsustainable food systems.<\/p>\n
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\nhave shown their resilience in the face of climate-crisisinduced<\/strong>
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