Radio Mundo Real

A new round between governments and the civil society in the context of the Committee on Food Security of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization took place from March 5-9, in Rome, capital city of Italy.

The purpose of these meetings is the elaboration of the “Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests”, a process featured by the participation of the civil society which is fundamental to find real solutions to the world food crisis.

This week, for instance, international organizations in Italy insisted that without them the governments won’t have any impact and that the true way out of the current situation requires “completely innovative and original” tools that challenge the rules of market and liberal religion.

In the press release, representatives of farmers, artisanal fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, pastoralists, rural women and young people, remember that a “long process” of internal consultations is being held in all continents with the support of the IPC (the International Planning Committee for Food Soverignty) to develop their own version of the guidelines.

Some of the issues that the civil society tried to negotiate with governments include the protection of local communities against the threat of the "safe access" to agricultural lands; the redistribution of lands for small food producers and the need to put limits to the private property of land.

They also put on the table other issues such as the need to strengthen the rights to access to land of the indigenous peoples and traditional communities; ensuring the permanent monitoring by the
States in the implementation of the Guidelines; and the strengthening of the accountability measures and response capacity of the countries against climate change, natural resources and violent conflicts.

“The struggle for a deep change in general policies about land, food and agriculture continues being long and difficult and the results are not clear”, reads the document.