World Forum on Food Sovereignty
-------------------------------
Final Declaration of the World Forum on Food Sovereignty Havana,
Cuba, September 7, 2001
For the peoples' right to produce food, feed themselves and exercise
their food sovereignty.
We-some 400 delegates from peasant and indigenous organizations,
fishing associations, non-governmental organizations, social agen-
cies, academics and researchers from 60 countries met in Havana to
analyze the reasons why hunger and malnutrition grow every day
throughout the world, why the crisis in peasant and indigenous agri-
culture, artisanal fisheries and sustainable food systems has wors-
ened, and why the people are losing sovereign control over their re-
sources. We gathered to collectively develop viable alternatives for
action on a local, national and global scale, aimed at reversing cur-
rent trends and promoting new policies that can guarantee a hunger-
free present and future for all men and women of the world.
Five years after the World Food Summit, seven years after the agri-
cultural agreements of the Uruguay Round, and following two decades
of the application of neoliberal policies, the promises and commit-
ments made to satisfy the food and nutritional needs of all are far
from being fulfilled. Actually, the economic, agricultural, fishing
and trade policies imposed by the World Bank, IMF and WTO, and pro-
moted by the transnational corporations, have widened the gap between
the wealthy and poor countries and accentuated the unequal distribu-
tion of income within countries. They have worsened the conditions of
food production and nutrition of the majority of the world's people,
even of some in the developed countries. As a consequence, the right
to food and nutritional well-being enshrined in the Universal Decla-
ration of Human Rights, is not guaranteed for the world's poor. The
sustainability of food systems is not merely a technical matter. It
constitutes a challenge demanding the highest political will of
states. The profit motive has led to the unsustainability of food
systems often surpassing the limits on production imposed by nature.
The hope for a new millennium free of hunger has been frustrated, to
the shame of all humanity. The real causes of hunger and malnutrition
Hunger, malnutrition and the exclusion of millions of people from ac-
cess to productive goods and resources are not a result of fate, of
geographical location or climatic phenomena. Above all, they are a
consequence of deliberate policies that have been imposed by devel-
oped countries and their corporations to maintain and increase their
hegemony within the current process of global economic restructuring.
In the face of the neoliberal ideology behind these policies we af-
firm that:
* Food is not a merchandise and that the food system cannot be viewed
mainly according to a market logic.
* The liberalization of international agricultural and fishing trade
does not guarantee the people's right to food.
* Trade liberalization does not necessarily facilitate economic
growth and the well-being of the poor.
* The underdeveloped countries are capable of producing their own
food now and in the future if external constraints are lifted.
* The neoliberal concept of comparative advantage negatively affects
food systems. The importing of cheaper food commodities leads to the
dismantling of domestic production and the reorienting productive re-
sources towards export crops for the First World markets.
* Peasant, indigenous farmers and artisanal fisherfolks are indeed
able to meet the growing needs of food production. Intensive indus-
trial agriculture and fishing are ill-suited to solve the world`s
hunger problems.
* Current efforts to privatize agricultural and fisheries natural re-
sources are steps in the wrong direction.
* Privatization leads, among other, to massive migration to the cit-
ies and abroad supplying cheap labor to corporations and exacerbating
urban unemployment.
* Transnational food models being imposed threaten the diversity of
peoples' food cultures.
* Developed countries use food as a weapon. We recognize the efforts
of Cuba which, despite a four decades US blockade has managed to
guarantee the right to food for all of its people.
* All of the above is taking place while we see a weakening of the
real participation of the rural population in the discussion and
adoption of public policies.
The consequences of neoliberal policies
* Developed countries have reaped most of the benefits while the peo-
ples of the Third World have seen a growth of their external debt and
heightened levels of poverty and social exclusion. The international
agricultural market is cornered by a small number of transnational
corporations while dependence and food insecurity is the reality for
the majority of the rural poor.
* A number of countries continue to heavily subsidize their export
crops giving no protection to small farmers who produce for the do-
mestic market.
* Neoliberal policies are promoting a process of forced deruraliza-
tion.
* Artisanal fishing communities have been increasingly losing access
to their own resources.
* Hunger and malnutrition are growing, not because of an absence of
food, but rather because of an absence of rights.
But the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the exercise of
lasting and sustainable food sovereignty are possible. We have seen
in practically every country countless examples of sustainable food
production in peasant and indigenous communities, as well as sustain-
able and diversified management of rural areas.
In view of the foregoing, the participants in the World Forum on Food
Sovereignty declare:
1. Food sovereignty is the peoples' right to define their own poli-
cies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution and
consumption of food. This sovereignty centers on supporting small and
medium-size producers; it respects farmers` own cultures and diver-
sity and their own forms of fishing and agricultural production in
which women play a fundamental role.
2. Food sovereignty is primarily oriented towards the satisfaction of
the needs of the local and national markets.
3. The rights, autonomy and culture of indigenous peoples is a pre-
requisite for combating hunger and malnutrition as is the recognition
of their right to autonomous control of their territories and natural
resources
4. Food sovereignty further implies guaranteed access to safe and
sufficient food for all individuals.
5. Food sovereignty implies the implementation of comprehensive land
reform which will also give equal opportunities to women. It has to
entail equitable access to land, water and forests, as well as to the
means of production, financing, training and capacity building. Where
needed, land reform is an obligation of national governments, but
must be controlled by peasant organizations. We oppose the policies
and programs for the commercialization of land promoted by the World
Bank.
6. We support the Code of Conduct on the Human Right to Adequate Food
(put forward for consideration at the upcoming WFS FYL) as an instru-
ment for the implementation and promotion of this right.
7. We support the ratification and application of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966).
8. We support the adoption by the UN of an "International Convention
on Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Well-being" to rule over deci-
sions on an international food trade that serves human beings. [Food
sovereignty does not mean autarchy, full self-sufficiency or the dis-
appearance of international agricultural and fishing trade].
9. We oppose any interference by the WTO to unduly influence national
food, agriculture and fishing policies. We categorically oppose its
agreements on intellectual property rights over plants and other liv-
ing organisms. WTO has to be kept out of food.
10. We propose the creation of a new democratic and transparent order
for the regulation of international trade, the creation of an inter-
national appeals court independent of the WTO, as well as the
strengthening of UNCTAD as a forum for multilateral negotiations on
fair trade in food. At the same time, we propose the promotion of re-
gional networking among producers' organizations opposing the nega-
tive effects of the neoliberal practices depicted above.
11. We demand an immediate end to the unfair subsidies being given to
agricultural exports in the North.
12. We condemn biopiracy and the patenting of living organisms, in-
cluding the development of sterile varieties through genetic engi-
neering processes. Seeds are the patrimony of all of humanity. The
monopolization genetically modified organisms (GMOs) technologies
represents a grave threat to the peoples' food sovereignty. We demand
a ban on open experimentation and marketing of GMOs until there is
conclusive evidence of their impact (precautionary principle).
13. We oppose the imposition of food models alien to the food cul-
tures of sovereign nations. Food sovereignty should be founded on di-
versified systems of production, based on ecologically sustainable
technologies.
14. We consider the protection of the environment and biodiversity
and of cultural diversity a priority.
15. We support the struggles of women for access to productive re-
sources and for passing on their food cultures to their children.
16. Artisanal fisherfolks and their organizations are not to relin-
quish their rights to free access to inland and coastal fishing
grounds and the establishment and protection of reserve areas for the
exclusive use of artisanal fishing.
17. Food aid policies and programs must be reviewed. They cannot in-
hibit the development of local food production capacities. They
should also not lead to dependence, to corruption, or to the dumping
of foods that are harmful to health.
18. Food sovereignty can only be achieved, defended and exercised
through the mobilization of all of society. It requires an effective
democratization of decision-making and the development of national
and international solidarity networks.
19. We condemn the U.S. policy of blockading Cuba and other peoples
and the use of food as a weapon of economic and political pressure
against countries and popular movements.
20. Achieving food sovereignty and eradicating hunger and malnutri-
tion are possible in all countries and for all peoples. We express
our determination to continue struggling against the negative effects
of globalization, maintaining and increasing our role as social mobi-
lisers, building strategic alliances and adopting firm political
agendas.
21. We propose declaring October 16 (known until now as World Food
Day) as World Food Sovereignty Day. Keep the WTO out of food. Another
world is possible.
--
Claudio Schuftan
mailto:aviva@netnam.vn
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