Day two: Hot topics15 February 2007
After a sweltering night I watch the sun come up to the sound of goats' bells ringing.
Walking through the village, children come running up shaking hands and saying "Bonjour, ça va?" (I'm pushing my GCSE French to the max during this trip).
Everyone we meet - usually dressed in colourful, traditional robes and dresses - waves and smiles.
Worldwide regions
Back in our meetings we break off into regions:
- Latin America
- Asia
- Africa
- Europe
The main issues people are campaigning on are:
- Trade
- GMOs
- Indigenous community land rights
- Corporate campaigns
Enough food to feed itself
African Friends of the Earth groups from Nigeria, Swaziland, Sierra Leone and elsewhere speak about how Africa has enough food to feed itself.
This is being undermined by export models being pushed onto Africa by rich nations.
Local fruit seller in Mali
Nnimmo Bassey from ERA (Friends of the Earth Nigeria) speaks of the threat from GM food being used in food aid instead of locally grown food.
Zambian farmers have rejected food aid from the World Food Programme because it contained GM maize and instead donated locally grown cassava to food-scarce areas.
Friends of the Earth campaigners also speak of how oil companies, like Shell, undermine food sovereignty by polluting agricultural lands and rivers on a massive scale and then refusing to clean up their mess.
Latin American groups have a very advanced understanding of food sovereignty.
Friends of the Earth International began working with Via Campesina on this issue when they met during the Seattle protests against the WTO in 1999.
Forests = food security
In Asia, forests are a major source of food security needs. But they are being cleared at alarming rate for agricultural land as well as for logging and mining.
Palm oil and other plantations for export products are growing. Many of these goods end up on the shelves of supermarkets like Tesco.
Palm oil plantation in Indonesia
Indigenous people are being driven off their land and fisherfolk are seeing large trawlers deplete their fish.
This situation is set to be made much worse if the dangerous current proposals still on the table at the WTO are revived and the EU continues its push for unfair trade deals with South East Asia outside of the WTO.
Food sovereignty is about stopping these injustices and reasserting local control over forests, fish and food.
Brave communities are doing this around the world and that is what this is event is all about.
Joe Zacune, our Trade Campaigner, is sending daily updates from the World Forum for Food Sovereignty in Sélingué, Mali.
