World Food Policy Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 118

Advancing Health Promoting Food Systems

farmers, and market cooperatives—to "Declaration of Nyeleni” which states:
link small farmers to global and national
markets through supermarkets (Reardon,
Food sovereignty … puts those who
Timmer, and Minten 2013).
produce, distribute and consume
food at the heart of food systems and
4.1.3 - Support for the role of civil society
policies rather than the demands of
auspiced food systems
markets and corporations. It defends
the interests and inclusion of the

Civil society— including comnext generation. It offers a strategy
munity organizations, non-governto resist and dismantle the current
ment organizations, and ad-hoc citizen
corporate trade and food regime, and
actions—has reinstated itself as a major
directions for food, farming, pastoral
food system actor in affluent countries,
and fisheries systems determined by
while maintaining a strong presence in
local producers. … It ensures that the
low-income countries. In high-income
rights to use and manage our lands,
countries, civil society is manifest in local
territories, waters, seeds, livestock
areas as farmers markets, community
and biodiversity are in the hands of
food gardens, local food planning
those of us who produce food.
committees, bee keeping societies, and
so forth. In low- and middle-income
Many countries now host
countries, civil society is the basis of the highly active national food sovereignty
food barter and reciprocity systems as movements, including Australia http://
well as thriving black markets where cash australian.foodsovereigntyalliance.
is exchanged for commodities. In some org/. The food sovereignty ethos and
countries, what happens in this civil principles are also often present in the
society sector minimizes exposure to urban agriculture movement (Smit,
food insecurity. Trade in food and formal Nair, and Ratta 2001), and in analyses
cash, commodity markets are relatively of the protective effects of adherence to
minor pathways to food security for traditional diets and customary dietary
a sizable number of the world’s poor practices (e.g., social eating) (Monteiro
population (De Schutter and Sepulveda and Cannon 2012).
2012).

In addition, numerous inter
It is in this context, that much is national
non-government
orgamade of the food sovereignty movement. nizations—Save the Children, OxFam,
The Global Small-Scale Farmers' World WildLife Fund—have major
Movement organization, via Campesina, initiatives underway to assist in the
coined the term “food sovereignty” in prevention of under-nutrition. Their
1996, spawning an international political ethos typically involves community
movement which continues to attract building, infrastructure development to
government and civil society interest. assist rural producers, and support of
At the Forum for Food Sovereignty in programmes to improve maternal and
Mali (2007), about 500 delegates from child health.
more than 80 countries adopted the
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