Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

  Food sovereignty is an alternative model for agriculture and trade first introduced in Rome at the World Food Summit in 1996 by Vía Campesina , a transnational movement of peasants and small farmers. Vía Campesina was formed in 1993 by farm leaders from various countries to address the escalating global agrarian crisis experienced by small farmers, peasants, fisher people, pastoralists, and landless laborers in food production. Initially a concept that critics dismissed as Utopian, food sovereignty is increasingly promoted and supported by social movements, non-profit organizations, academics, consumer groups, the former UN (United Nations) Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as well as several regional and national governments. The fundamental premise of food sovereignty is that food is more than a commodity to be traded on world markets; it is a basic human right, inscribed in international law. For the right to food to be realized, peoples, communities, and nations must have the autonomy to determine their own food and agriculture policies, ones that are socially, culturally, and environmentally appropriate to their unique circumstances. Food sovereignty advocates do not oppose all international trade, but free trade policies, such as those enshrined in NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in 1994, and in the Agreement on Agriculture of the Uruguay Round, activated with ... log in or subscribe to read full text