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Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture A Just Ecosocial Transformation of Food Systems to Counter Food and Climate Crises Industrial food systems have failed to meet the nutritional needs of our planet’s population. The mass extinction of species, destruction of ecosystems and disruption of the natural cycles that sustain life on Earth further affect food systems. Extractivism, commodification and financialization of nature have exacerbated exploitation, dispossession and violent evictions. The increasing control of natural resources by a small number of powerful corporations, individuals and states is also fuelling gender-based violence, intersecting forms of discrimination, and mounting inequality. This report, by the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition, challenges false, for-profit solutions and presents alternatives anchored in the human right to adequate food and nutrition, ecosocial justice, agroecology and food sovereignty. A just ecosocial transformation of our food systems that would protect everyone’s right to food and nutrition requires global justice and the fostering of food sovereignty, harmony and balance between humanity and the environment. With
best wishes, ______________________________________________________ PEOPLE’S ECOLOGICAL ALTERNATIVES TO CORPORATE GREENWASHING: TRUE AND FALSE SOLUTIONS TO THE FOOD AND CLIMATE CRISIS The
Right to Food and Nutrition Watch Executive Summary This edition of the Right to Food and Nutrition WATCH focuses on the causes, impacts and responses to the food, climate and ecological crises during 2023. It challenges false, for-profit solutions and presents alternatives anchored in the human right to adequate food and nutrition, ecosocial justice, agroecology and food sovereignty. Industrial food systems have failed to meet the nutritional needs of our planet’s population. Close to 800 million people face hunger today. Our food systems also produce about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing massively to the climate crisis and exacerbating access to food and nutrition. The mass extinction of species, destruction of ecosystems and disruption of the natural cycles that sustain life on Earth further affect food systems. Extractivism, commodification and financialization of nature have exacerbated exploitation, dispossession and violent evictions. The increasing control of natural resources by a small number of powerful corporations, individuals and states is also fuelling gender-based violence, intersecting forms of discrimination, and mounting inequality. This report proposes a different way forward – based on people’s struggles against corporate capture, greenwashing and neocolonial practices – that promotes the right to food, enhances the human rights of peasants and other people in rural areas, and guarantees food sovereignty for all. It is divided into four sections that examine international developments, food and the triple ecological crises, green colonialism and decarbonization, and grassroots struggles and solutions to the climate and food crises. Despite the worsening food crisis, there was little decisive international action during 2023 to address its causes. Instead, corporate capture of international fora continued amid moves to replace multilateralism with multi-stakeholderism at the United Nations. The food sovereignty movement sought to defend and democratize multilateralism, notably promoting the key role of the UN Committee on World Food Security, and celebrating the creation of a UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. The food and triple ecological crises of climate, biodiversity loss and pollution are inextricably linked. Similar technological solutions for each are proposed by states and corporations which fail to address the rights of small-scale food producers and other people living in rural areas. This was evident at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties. COP 28 climate talks were dominated by profit-seeking false solutions from agribusiness and fossil fuels lobbyists, including “Naturebased Solutions” and carbon offsets. These perpetuate the climate crisis by failing to address root causes and further fuel abuses and violations of human rights. There is an urgent need for public oversight mechanisms to protect Indigenous Peoples’, peasants’ and other rural people’s rights in the context of carbon trading. In recent years, decarbonization and related market-oriented approaches have been imposed as the main paradigm in addressing the ecological and climate crises. Yet many frontline communities, civil society organizations, critical scholars, and scientists argue that they aggravate rather than solve the crises. Instead of protecting the planet, this green colonialism simply perpetuates its destruction and the commodification of nature, deepening existing inequalities and accelerating the exploitation of natural resources. A just ecosocial transformation of our food systems that would protect everyone’s right to food and nutrition requires global justice and the fostering of food sovereignty, harmony and balance between humanity and the environment. This report’s concluding section outlines working alternatives to false solutions, practised by members of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition, which transform food systems on the ground and promote the right to food and nutrition.
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