Call to Action: There is no Future without Food Sovereignty, Now is the Time to Transform!

 Food Sovereignty is Land, Water, Seeds, Bread and Solidarity!

Call to humanity to take action for food sovereignty

(Harare, September 23, 2021) On October the 16^th, we celebrate 25 years of envisioning food sovereignty. This 25-year celebration and reflections are happening at a time when the planet and humanity is facing unprecedented crisis upon crisis. Climate change (heat waves, droughts, floods etc.) ravages the planet and biodiversity loss at catastrophic levels. Pollution is pervasive and chokes both terrestrial and marine life. Hunger, poverty and inequality are on the rise. COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the already dire situation. We urgently need to transform our way of life to adapt and survive. Now is the moment to globally coordinate people's actions in rural and urban to build equitable and healthy food systems. Food sovereignty is the solution to transform food systems, end hunger and malnutrition and to cool the earth, to preserve biodiversity, and respect the rights of peasants and workers! There is no future without food sovereignty.

The global food systems dominated by big businesses have not only failed but cause most of the problems and crisis we face today. The recent big business initiative at the UN Food Systems Summit to entrench their interests in and capture global food governance spaces and shape policy must be resisted. This coming October we call on our members, allies, friends, activists and other likeminded civil society organisations to mobilise for food sovereignty and against corporate capture of food governance systems. The people, the planet and not profits should come first in all our relations.

We, the peasants, men and women, indigenous peoples, rural populations, agricultural workers, the youth in urban and rural areas, have the solution –Food sovereignty and Peasant Agroecology.

LET'S UNITE TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE!

We can only build and guarantee a future with food sovereignty if we unite to transform our society by doing the following:

• Take action in your farm to make food sovereignty practices visible to the world (exchange seeds, organize farmers' fair for local food producers and consumers etc.).
• Adopt a seed(s) and start growing own food to strengthen local production. Share a photo(s) of this action with the #NoFutureWithoutFoodSovereignty
• Put pressure on governments and local authorities to prioritize food sovereignty in public policies and implement the UN Declaration of Rights of Peasants and other people working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).
• Engage in direct action, starting October 1^st, to expose the agribusinesses and transnational corporations that affect our way of life and violate our rights and call them out in our communities. Resist corporate capture of our food system! Share a photo(s) of your action.
• In light of the worsening climate crisis, let's engage in more awareness activities on social media to give visibility our solution "#AgroecologyCoolsTheEarth"
• Solidarity through food donations: Let´s share the food we produce with those in need in our communities.
• Write and draw for food Sovereignty (see Call for Artists and for Writers)

Send us your actions, images, posters and articles to our email: lvcweb@viacampesina.org, tag us on social media twitter (@via_campesina), Instagram (@la_via_campesina_oficial) and Facebook (@viacampesinaOFFICIAL), and make visible globally our collective mobilization for a better society based on food sovereignty.

Food Sovereignty is Land, Water, Seeds, Bread and Solidarity!

#NoFutureWithoutFoodSovereignty #FoodSovereigntyNow