Towards Food Sovereignty

Abstract

"This paper describes how achieving food sovereignty will entail a fundamental shift away from the industrial and neo-liberal paradigm for food and agriculture towards: More direct democracy and greater citizen participation in framing policies for food and agriculture; respecting and including the voices of the very poor and marginalised (especially women); Federations of elected citizen-based local councils linking villages, towns, neighbourhoods, local economies and ecological units to act as a significant counter-power to the state and transnational corporations; Democratised research and strong networks of local innovators; Reformed and equitable access and resource use rights, including land, water, forests, seeds and the means of production; Re-localised and resilient food systems based on agro-ecology, eco-literacy and circular economy models."