PHM-Exch> Press Release Of South Asia Group statement during CFS 37 on food sovereignty at FAO

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: SIRIMAL PEIRIS <sirimalp at sltnet.lk>

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY NETWORK SOUTH ASIA
C/O IMSE 195 Jodhpur Park, Kolkata 700068, India
Tel: 00913324732740/24836491, Fax: 00913324725571,
e-mail: foodsovsouthasia at gmail.com
______________________________________________________________________________________
Press Release
Date: 20.10.2011
We the civil society members of six South Asian countries, representing Food
Sovereignty Network South
Asia and its national networks in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Nepal and also from
Ekta Parishad India, International Food Security Network (IFSN) Bangladesh,
Pakistan Fishers Forum,
Pakistan, Oxfam Asia; participating at the 37th session of the Committee on
Food Security (CFS) of the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, held from
17-22nd October 2011, met at
FAO, Rome for a South Asia Dialogue in order to review South Asian food
security status, in the context of
ongoing discussions in CFS 37 and to identify key areas of challenges, need
to be addressed through
collective interventions at different levels.
We revisited the fact that South Asia remains the hotspot of hunger and this
sub region is the home of the
largest number of hungry and malnourished people in the world. South Asian
countries share various
common concerns related to food security. Agriculture is the principal
source of livelihood in these countries
but this sector is facing serious constraints in general and small scale
food producers are facing extreme
challenges in particular. Parts of these concerns are linked with the
age-old structural discriminations, which
continue to exist in these countries and these call for appropriate policy
interventions. The other emerging
constraints are owing to increased liberalization of economy of these
countries which has reduced their
capacity to support the small scale food producers and has made them
extremely dependent on market
mechanism. Through our interaction we pointed out following concerns which
require immediate attentions
of the government and international actors:
Ø Despite all efforts absolute number of poor people is increasing in South
Asia and majority of them are
dependent on agriculture. Landlessness is on rise and concentration of land
in the hands of few individuals,
institutions or corporate is increasing. This illustrates that states have
not invested adequately in agriculture
and have not implemented redistributive land reform which would have
addressed highly skewed patterns of
distribution of land in the region. The state’s commitments to implement
Voluntary Guidelines on Right to
Food and ICARRD Principles are yet to be realized. The states have failed to
promote sustainable model of
production (small holder production) on the contrary corporate farming is
highlighted as the solution for the
food crisis, which is already proved to be a failure.
Ø Nation states have further encouraged large scale investment of MNCs and
other investors on productive land.
This has intensified land grabbing, commercialization of natural resources,
alienation of natural resources
from poor, loss of common properties and forced eviction of vulnerable
groups and rural-urban migration.
Such investments have further resulted into degradation of natural resources
due to unsustainable production
practices.
Ø Small food producers in South Asia are steadily losing their sovereign
right as on the one hand due to high
input costs they are forced to become contract farmers of agriculture
business companies and on the other
hand due to price volatility their purchasing power has been further
compromised. It has been observed with
concern that high price of food crops do not benefit real tillers or the
consumers. The trading communities and
corporate companies are making profit at the cost of the people’s resources
and assets.
Ø Climate change is an emerging concern for South Asia as the whole region
is highly vulnerable to climate
change threats. The region has already experienced extreme climate
conditions like frequent flooding draughts
and irregular precipitation patterns, which have seriously damaged the
rain-fed agricultural production. It has
been observed with concern that the state strategies to deal with negative
impact of climate change are focused
on ‘climate business’ rather than focusing on ensuring right to food of the
climate victims. Irresponsible use of
resources by multi stake holders has intensified environmental pollution and
climate crisis. Corporate
agriculture is increasing pollution of water and sea, thereby affecting
livelihoods of millions of peasants and
fishers. Similarly forest dwellers, pastoralists and indigenous communities
are affected when their traditional
domains are expropriated either in the name of development or in the name of
climate mitigation (e.g.
plantation of agro-fuel).
Ø Women, children, Dalits, other religious minorities and indigenous people
remain the most vulnerable groups
in South Asia. Tradition, religion and other socio-cultural norms are still
creating barriers for women and
undermining their rights. Estimates suggest that indigenous communities are
the majority among IDPs in
South Asia and less than 10% of them received any
rehabilitation/compensation.
Ø Another serious threat in South Asia is increased militarization in
various countries and their role in
controlling natural resources, thereby limiting the rights of the
communities to access those resources
enormously. Criminalisation of people’s movements and violations of rights
of human rights defenders are on
rise.
In this larger context we the representatives of South Asian Civil Society
Organisations are concerned that
the Voluntary Guidelines (VG) on tenure rights could not be adopted during
CFS 37 due to incomplete
negotiation process (particularly on investment related issues). We strongly
feel VG would be an additional
useful tool for small food producers to claim their right to land and
livelihood. We think that the time has
come for the state to take appropriate policy actions and ensure their
proper implementations in line with
national and international human rights principles, so that food security of
the communities could be ensured
and we could move forward towards achieving food sovereignty. Thus we urge
our nation states and
international actors to pay attention to the followings :
• Stop conversion of agricultural land for non food production and stop all
forms of land grabbing
immediately. Ensure redistributive reform of natural resources (land,
forest, water) and support small
food producers by implementing genuine and comprehensive reform measures led
by the state so that
the small food producers could enjoy their legitimate right to life,
livelihood and the right to live with
dignity.
• Ensure communities participation in governance and development planning,
be it industry,
agriculture or climate mitigation/adaptation strategies. There should be a
bottom up mechanism in
place and the state should fulfill its obligations under various
national/international human rights to
the fullest extent. Accountability of the state actors should be ensured
through appropriate
monitoring mechanisms, which would involve active participation of rights
users and civil society.
Transparency should be maintained at all levels of policy formation and
implementation.
• Food aid should not control internal democratic political dynamics and
sovereignty of South Asian
countries and communities. Countries which are suffering from protracted
crises in South Asia
should be given appropriate support, with a priority to ensure Right to food
of the people of those
countries.
• Ensure elimination of all forms of discriminations against women and other
vulnerable groups
through appropriate policy measures and by their effective implementations.
• Acknowledge the contribution of small food producers to global food
security and accept the fact
that the food security of future generations could only be secured by
promotion of small food
producers and agro ecological model of production, instead of eco degrading,
profit oriented
corporate agriculture. State should take steps to counter corporatisation of
agriculture through steps
like promotion of cooperatives of small food producers, which would address
the concern of
fragmentation of holdings.
We further urge the nation states and global actors to adopt VG on tenure
rights and to reject all such
investment plans in agriculture, which will weaken small food producers’
capacity to feed themselves. We
urge SAARC to create a consultative space for civil society and social
movements so that peoples’
aspirations could be adequately captured in regional policies. We are
disillusioned with market based
solutions and urge the nation states to implement genuine resource reforms
in order to empower local
communities. We urge for food sovereignty of South Asian countries.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Circulated by: Dr. Ujjaini Halim from Rome, Italy on behalf of the
participants (Local contact: 00393297832783,
ujjainihalim at hotamil.com). Contact of office:00919830299326






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