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 profit before life. […] Our diverse forms of smallholder food production based on Agroecology generate local knowledge, promote social justice, nurture identity and culture, and strengthen the economic viability of rural areas. As smallholders, we defend our dignity when we choose to produce in an agroecological way.”
– Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology, 2015
A movement is growing. While agroecology has been practiced for millennia in diverse places around the world, today we are witnessing the mobilisation of transnational social movements to build, defend and strengthen agroecology as the pathway towards a more just, sustainable and viable food and agriculture system.
These social movements claim agroecology as a bottom up movement and practice that needs to be supported, rather than led, by science and policy. From this perspective, agroecology is inseparable from food sovereignty: the right of citizens to control food policy and practice.
“There is no food sovereignty without agroecology. And certainly, agroecology will not last without a food sovereignty policy that backs it up.”
– Ibrahima Coulibaly, CNOP (Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes du Mali), from Mali
A new publication and video present this vision in more depth and explore agroecology through the perspectives of food producers involved in the food sovereignty movement. Food producers say in their own words why agroecology is a key pathway towards better food systems and food sovereignty.
More information:
- Download: Building, Defending and Strengthening Agroecology: Global Struggles for Food Sovereignty. Translations: Français and Español
- Watch: Agroecology – Vision, Practice, Movement: Voices From Social Movements