Changing how food is produced and consumed
"We are working towards resilient food production systems, which provide healthy and safe food for all people in Europe, while also preserving biodiversity and natural resources and ensuring animal welfare.” (Nyéléni Europe Declaration, August 2011)
The model of production dominating European food systems is controlled by corporate interests and is based on concentrated power, monocultures, patenting seeds and livestock breeds, imposing pesticides and fertilisers. It is dysfunctional and has resulted in increasing levels of obesity in Europe and hunger in other regions. It drives local farmers off the land, removes small-scale fishers from the seas and confines livestock to factory farms, at home and abroad. It is a system perpetuated by ineffective regulation and unjust laws.
The Nyéléni process promotes real alternatives through an agroecological model of food provision in the framework of food sovereignty. Across Europe we are developing and supporting local food systems, swapping local seeds, realising peasants’ rights, building the fertility of our soils, and strengthening and increasing the resilience of local production and food webs. Ecological food provision systems are resilient and can adapt to and mitigate climate change, but we insist that food and agriculture be kept out of the carbon, ecosystem services and biodiversity offset markets.
We need to strengthen local food cultures and public policies that support links between producers and consumers, and we are fighting against the loss of skills in producing, preparing and cooking food, and against food waste.
European Food Sovereignty Movement
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