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World leaders at food summit must feed people, not big business
16 November 2009
Commenting on the World Food Summit in Rome, organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) to tackle rising hunger, Friends of the Earth Food Campaigner Kirtana Chandrasekaran said:
"The global food system isn't working because it puts big business before people and the environment - instead of feeding the world's poor, factory farming is trashing forests to make space to grow crops to feed cattle and cars in the west.
"This is forcing the small farmers who can feed local communities without destroying the planet's vital life support services off their land - plunging ever more people into hunger and poverty.
"With a billion starving people in poor countries - and the same number obese in the west - the unfair food system is also creating an unprecedented global health crisis.
"We can produce enough food for everyone in the world without factory farming, but world leaders must listen to the international scientific consensus and put small scale and planet-friendly farming, not big food businesses, at the heart of its decision making."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's World Food Summit is taking place in Rome from 16 - 18 November.
2. Friends of the Earth's Food Chain Campaign is calling on the UK Government to back planet-friendly farming www.fixthefoodchain.com
3. Last year, UK ministers signed up to a major UN-sponsored assessment of global agriculture, written by 400 scientists and backed by 60 governments, recommended a radical shift away from industrialised agriculture to small-scale, diverse, ecological farming based on local food needs http://www.agassessment.org/
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Nov 2009
