What We Stand For & Fight Against

For the majority of Africans, around 70%, their ecological, economic and social agenda is tied to agriculture. This dependence on agriculture means massive vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Dealing with the climate crisis is key to ensuring resilience, food sovereignty, justice and livelihoods for Africa.

In the face of the crises of Covid-19, climate and inequality, remember that it's small farmers who feed 80% of the world, not big business. The majority of the world depends on them and their fight for food sovereignty. Our solidarity with them in their struggle is more important than ever.

On the International Day of Peasants' Struggle, and every day, we stand in solidarity with our partners who are working on the frontlines with farmers' movements and agricultural workers in this moment of crisis.

"A really important part of being women in La Vía Campesina is to identify ourselves and our various struggles" emphasized speakers at the start of the V Women's Assembly taking place in Basque Country on 17 and 18 July 2017. The peasant women highlighted various aspects of this identity, including women's care for the land, the seeds and the ecosystem and their fights against patriarchy, the sexist system, and violence. They took advantage of their unique gathering to advance their collective understanding of how to fight for food sovereignty with feminism."

Food sovereignty is a feminist issue. Food production, harmonious social relations and balance with nature is the fabric of life that is entwined with and embodied in women. The onset of patriarchy, a structural system of domination more pronounced in capitalist relations, has disrupted balance in social relations. Now, women are exploited for profit. Their economic, social, legal and political rights are not fully recognized, and public policies fail to guarantee their equal social and economic participation. Yet, they are the majority of food producers and continue to do unpaid food-related care work (processing, preparing, storing, seed saving, etc.). Their rights — access to land, support services and legal recognition — receive minimal policy attention and are overlooked by many researchers and experts.

Why natural resource management is conflict management by definition

Land, water, forests and livestock as well as marine life are primary sources of income for a good part of the population of developing countries. In many cases, natural resources are considered common goods or are utilized by several users. Resource management always involves cooperation but also different – often competing – interests.

To prevent violent conflicts, assess risks and foster adaptation as well as innovation, we advocate for increased analysis of interest and needs of actors, as well as their power relations and rights that influence resource management in different settings. Evidence shows that good analysis and subsequent measures allow projects to increase their impact and contribute to conflict prevention.

Causes and factors for conflict over natural resources

Conflicts over natural resources are not a new phenomenon. A series of factors or trends are known which often trigger or substantially exacerbate conflicts over natural resources. The result is that local/traditional mechanisms are no longer able to address or solve conflicts and mediate diverging interests.

Many people in the Kenya think it's a derogatory term referring to people ruled by feudal lords in the middle ages. But it really means a "person of the land or of the country" and in much of the world, family farmers and rural workers continue to embrace the term ("campesino" in Spanish, "paysan" in French) to describe themselves and their communities with pride. It's a term that denotes communities and people who produce food, who have important knowledge and skills, and who prefer autonomy in making decisions in their livelihoods and work. Peasants produce food for the market, not just for themselves. It is estimated that peasants produce well over half of the world's food.

'We Need International Solidarity' to Help All Countries Weather Global Economic Crisis, Says Secretary-General, as Three-Day Conference Convenes at Headquarters

Vowing to marshal all the resources of the United Nations to monitor the impact of the current financial crisis and chart a path towards recovery, especially for hard hit poor countries, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for international solidarity to reform outdated global rules and institutions, and a renewed multilateralism to help all countries weather the economic downturn.

Scientists are urging Kenya's anti-GMO groups to embrace gene-editing technology to help ensure a more effective and productive agricultural sector. They note the tea industry — Kenya's leading cash crop and a major contributor to the economy — stands to gain greatly if the nation embraces gene editing, particularly the use of CRISPR.

But KPL and other civil society groups have been on a major campaign to block plans to make these GM seeds available to farmers. They have occasionally organized demonstrations to protest the introduction of Bt cowpea and even filed a lawsuit seeking a moratorium on plans to commercialize GMOs.

Food Sovereignty Kenya (FSG) is one of the groups that has sued the government for seeking a ban on processes to introduce GMOs into Kenya. The group says its opposition to GMOs covers emerging technologies as well and they will continue to campaign against them.

Rome, Italy, 17 October 2011 – As the 37th session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) begins at FAO, civil society organizations (CSO) welcome Saturday's results of the second round of negotiations on the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, and urge governments to conclude negotiations as soon as possible.

"The adopted text reflects the fact that we were here, reminding government officials that they have an obligation to ensure our interests," said Kalissa Regier, Canadian farmer, on behalf of La Via Campesina.

The CSOs also presented the Dakar Appeal Against Land Grabbing, endorsed by 870 organizations around the world, to the chair of CFS. They asked that this appeal be considered in the negotiations and for a ban on land grabbing.

Global Warming which is caused by human activity is rooted in a social and economic system that has a parasitoid relationship to the Earth upon which we live.

Capitalism as a system is highly exploitative of both people and the planet. It is driven by a desperate need for profit and accumulation. That is the overriding priority. Companies might 'green-wash' but we live in a world where the polar ice caps melt and then oil companies go in to tap the ground for previously unobtainable deposits of oil.

Whilst some reforms will no doubt happen as we approach the 2030 deadline, it is apparent that left on its own, our economic system will continue to destroy the basis for life on this planet until it is too late.

False Solutions are programs and policies that are promoted by corporations, agribusinesses, and governments as solutions to climate change. However, these solutions use the same capitalist practices and logic as those that caused climate change in the first place. These include commodification, extractivism, GMOs, and greenhouse gas intensive agriculture, among others. Such solutions promoted by corporate elites are based on market, trade and consequently on exploitation. A problem cannot be solved by the same logic that created it.

Agribusiness Transnational Corporations (TNCs) Create World Food Crisis; Peasants Seize Back Their Rights

The world food crisis is starting to appear in its real picture this year. During the last decades hunger was "hiding" in rural or slump areas. Now the number is increasing and many more people cannot stand it anymore. Food riots appear and queues of hungry people are back in many part of the world.

Africa and Asia are worst affected by hunger, misery and poverty in the rural areas and the increasing effects of climate change. Economic development and growth only benefits minority of the population and create environmental damage and does not resolve the extremely precarious situation of the large majority.

Patriarchy is a system that oppresses, exploits and commodifies women (their bodies, lives and sexuality), and women's work (formal and informal, overwork as well as the type of work and working conditions); and deprives them of access to common goods (resources, water, land, environmental protection, and food sovereignty). Patriarchy is also engrained in many traditions and norms, which are often used to maintain this hierarchy and power.