Projects

Final Declaration of the Organisers of the International Gathering for Food Sovereignty in Pau, France. BEDE- Réseau Semences paysannes – Confédération Paysanne de l’Aude-Village d’Emmaus Lescar-Pau. More than 250 representatives of civil society and peasant organisations have been hosted by companions in the Emmaus Lescar-Pau village; they have come from 29 countries and met on 24th- 27th September 2015 to share their experiences, best practices and ideas about how to best defend food sovereignty in our communities and our society. In all of our countries, our regions and our villages we are affected by …

Urban spaces and urban food systems are continuously challenged, negotiated and remade by women and men, as groups and as individuals. Whilst much has been written about the radical potentials of urban agriculture, the reality is less clear. Urban gardens reflect broader social and economic trends as well as the individual and collective politics of the gardeners and other users of the space. As such, there is nothing inherently radical about either urban gardens or urban food producers. But the idea of the right to the city is about the process of autogestion; the …

A comprehensive overview of Community Supported Agriculture in Europe has been released by Urgenci – The International Network for Community Supported Agriculture.  The report aims to give insight into the state of Community Supported Agriculture across Europe, exploring the range of emerging food distribution systems, particularly direct marketing and producer or consumer led models, from 22 countries. It explores examples of community initiatives in some detail, with focus on historical, cultural, legal and economic contextualisation to make it possible for groups to adapt and learn from and with each other. “Each cultural group that …

The global food system is one of the main drivers of climate change. By our calculations, it is responsible for around half of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the issue is hardly being talked about at the climate summits that governments hold every year. How is that? Agriculture is supposed to be about turning the energy provided by the sun into something that people can eat. But the corporate driven global food system mostly relies on fossil energy: the chemical fertilisers and pesticides, the mechanisation of the farm, the pumping up of water …

In September 2015, family farmer Jyoti Fernandes spoke at a Policy Debate in the European Parliament. Being part of the UK Landworkers’ Alliance and the European Coordination of La Vía Campesina (host of the debate), Jyoti articulated the need for the EU to support family farmers and for farmer organizations to be given voice in policy decisions related to food and agriculture in the EU: “We need real change to the laws that work deliberately against us: those about being able to save and produce your own seed and we need reform in the …

September 2015: A new publication  (Français and Español) and video explore the meaning and politics of agroecology from social movement perspectives. They are produced by the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) of Coventry University and ILEIA, the Centre for Learning on Sustainable Agriculture. “Agroecology is the answer to how to transform and repair our material reality in a food system and rural world that has been devastated by industrial food production and its so-called Green and Blue Revolutions. We see Agroecology as a key form of resistance to an economic system that puts …