Fostering sustainable food sovereignty in a changing world
Recent geopolitical and public health crises have shed light on the vulnerabilities of our planet’s food systems, calling for collective brainstorming and concrete measures in order to secure food sovereignty and agricultural sovereignty. The discussions being proposed in 2024 follow on from those held in Morocco back in 2022, on the post-pandemic world and agriculture and against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, and then in Egypt in 2023, on the challenges of managing water resources for the sake of economic development at a time of growing competition for natural resources.
CICA’s 2024 Congress will provide an opportunity to discuss such matters with experts so that we can improve our understanding of the concept of food sovereignty itself and of the controversies surrounding it:
Are we in the process of losing control over agricultural and food chains (are we overly dependent on external trade for our human and animal nutrition needs, inputs, etc.)?
How capable are we of meeting consumers’ needs? Are those needs coherent?
Is sovereignty possible given the way in which globalisation works today?
How can we reassert our capacity to choose our agricultural models and avoid having to bow to the competition (e.g. through standards and mirror clauses)? Which indicators should be used to monitor which impacts?
What coalitions of public and private organisations could be formed so as to guarantee food supplies, offer farmers decent incomes and transform production models (regenerative agriculture, agroecology, decarbonisation, etc.)?
