In Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 22-25, the International Committee for Food Sovereignty-Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean (CIP-ALC) organized the Third Special Conference for Food Sovereignty, Rights and Life. The meeting was attended by representatives of social organizations in 20 countries. Its objectives included the strengthening and expanding of strategic alliances and the formulation of proposals and recommendations for the 32nd FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, and specifically for the drafting of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the context of National Food Security.
The final declaration issued by the conference condemns the “accelerated advance of land grabbing throughout the continent,” caused by, among other factors, the expansion of agribusiness and mega projects in the mining, hydroelectric power and tourism sectors, as well as the various false solutions to climate change, such as REDD and REDD+ projects and monoculture plantations for the production of biomass as an energy source. The declaration also stresses that the current definition used by FAO for the word “forest” – which includes tree plantations – acts as a driver of land grabbing, since it legitimizes large-scale plantations by classifying them as forests, despite their countless negative impacts.
The full declaration is available in Spanish at: http://www.radiomundoreal.fm/get.php?file=IMG/pdf/
Declaracion_III_Conf_mov_sociales_x_sob_alimentaria.pdf&type=application/pdf
