From February 23-27, 2007, Via Campesina had already carried out the Food Sovereignty Forum also in Nyeleni, Mali, which marked a key moment in the struggle of peasants and numerous social movements and organizations working on the issue.

“Agroecology is essential to humanity, since it builds autonomy and a better life for small scale food producers, produces more healthy food, provides a strong base for food sovereignty, and allows rural peoples to live in harmony with and take care of our Mother Earth”, reads a press release issued by Via Campesina before the Forum.
The organizers included: More and Better (MaB), Movimiento Agroecológico de América Latina y el Caribe (MAELA), Réseau des organisations paysannes et de producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ROPPA), World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fishworkers (WFF), World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) and World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP) .

According to Via Campesina´s press release, the Mali Forum aimed at “exchanging local knowledge and know–how of farmers, sharing the innovations of peasants and small scale food producers, training materials and territorial processes to address the challenges of building an ecologically and socially just 
food system, as well as strengthening the synergies between the different small scale food producer organizations, social movements and other organizations promoting Agroecology”.
Below you´ll find some photos sent to Real World Radio by Boa Monjane (Via Campesina) and Martin Drago (Friends of the Earth International´s Food Sovereignty Program Coordinator).