Food Sovereignty

Food sovereignty is a plural concept and practice that emerged out of resistance to the dominant model of agribusiness globalization and its harmful effects on people and the planet. Food sovereignty argues that to achieve the realization of the human right to food it is not enough to focus on the availability and access to food without touching the question of how food is produced and by whom. In the perspective adopted by a wide variety of social movements and initiatives, both locally and globally, food sovereignty implies prioritizing local agricultural production; access of peasants and landless people to land, water, and seeds; the right of consumers to be able to decide what they consume, and how and by whom it is produced; and the right of countries to protect themselves from “dumping” (low priced agricultural and food imports). Food sovereignty entails using and managing land, territory, seeds, and biodiversity according to autonomous and sustainable agroecological choices; fighting against GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms); establishing or recovering local circuits of production and consumption; reclaiming local knowledge, practices, and food traditions; and creating cosmopolitan solidarity among social groups struggling for dignity and justice in food production and consumption.