Hunger is not naturalRight to Food campaign
2008/2010 Campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Why a campaign about the Right to Food?
It is necessary to take in consideration the food market when we talk about Fair Trade
the commodities have been among the first Fair Trade products (cocoa, coffee, sugar, tea, bananas)
The food market is more and more linked to the industrial farming model and to the speculation of the financial markets
In 2003, agriculture employed 2,3 billion people (FAOSTAT, 2004) As a paradox, even if food prices increase, the food producers
represent the majority of the 927 million people that are undernourished.
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
“Unnatural” causes of the present food crisis
Present agricultural and food industry is business-oriented and damages natural resources – resulting in bad food quality
If food becomes a commodity, it will be subject to all possible market failures – among else, social injustice and bad environmental impact
The present food crisis has deep roots and causes originating back in time:1. Unsustainable agricultural politics2. Unfair trade regulation3. Agricultural benefits distorting the market situation4. Systemic marginalization of small producers5. Long-term lack of agricultural investments in the Global South6. Indifference to the preservation of existing ecosystems
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Costs in food production In the past 50 years, food production has more than doubled to respond to
increased demand on part of the market
This has resulted in:1. Damage for 60% of the existing ecosystems2. Genetic diversity progressively decreases: as of now, four vegetal
species (wheat, corn, rice, and potato) provide for more than 90% of the necessary calories for human nourishment; simultaneously, about 12 animal species provide for 90% of the globally consumed animal proteins.
3. 75% of agricultural biodiversity has been lost: traditional knowledge and local farming techniques have disappeared in favor of a market-oriented agriculture
The most vulnerable farmers are prey to market oscillations, political instability, and climate change.
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Right to food campaignUndernourishment 1990
Territory size shows the proportion of all undernourished people worldwide,
that live there. www.worldmapper.org
Right to food campaign
Undernourishment is not being able to meet the minimum level of dietary energy consumption - that required to be able to undertake daily tasks.This is measured against a minimum weight, which varies by height, age and gender.
In 1990, 840 million people, or 16% of the world population were undernourished. The largest counts of undernourished people are found in India and China. The highest percentage of undernourished people was in Mozambique, where 69% of the population did not have enough to eat.Almost a quarter of all territories recorded no undernourishment in 1990. The regions of Japan, Eastern Europe and Western Europe are barely visible on the map.
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Right to food campaign
Undernourishment 2000 Territory size shows the proportion of all
undernourished people worldwide, that live there. www.worldmapper.org
Right to food campaign
Over the ten year period from 1990 to 2000, the number of people in the world that lived on an inadequate amount of food increased from 840 million to 858 million. Due to the population increases over this period, the percentage of the population that is undernourished simultaneously decreased from 16% to 14%.
Of all the people living in Central Africa, over 60% are undernourished. The Democratic Republic of Congo has the highest levels of undernourishment: 3 in every 4 people there are undernourished.
Reducing the proportion of undernourished peoples is an aim of Millennium Development Goal 1.
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Right to food campaign
Why?!Someone says..Environmental factors (trend to lower the sense of responsibility of politicians)Demographic factors (we are more, we eat more!)
but in reality there's no global food scarcity, there's a problem of access to food
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Right to food campaignWe think is more likely related to:
City centered policies
Agricultural export oriented policies
Trade liberalization
Speculation
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Who profits most in the food chain
Producers of chemical fertilizers (Cargill’s Mosaic, Sinochem, Potash Corp): some of them have doubled their profits in 2007.
Sellers of products for agriculture (Cargill, ADM, Conagra, etc.), that have made 5.200 Euros (+50% on 2006)
Merchants of seed (Monsanto, +44%, DuPont, +19% Syngenta, +28%)
Being in the position for exercising a direct control on the increasingly complex systems of the global market, these multinational corporations are able to make enormous profits out of food scarcity.
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Those who are subjected to the highest level of pressure in the present situation
Small owners, landless workers, and farmers located in marginal areas of the world, often ecologically vulnerable :1. They produce for foreign markets (cocoa, coffee, bananas, etc) and buy food for their own consumption on the market – products that are often manufactured in wealthy countries. Far from being a profit, the increase in prices is to them a dramatic event.
2. They have no political support and cannot compete with industrial, public-funded agriculture.
3. In order to survive, they are forced to leave the countryside and migrate to the towns.
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Fair trade has a lot to say about all this, because the reasons for struggling against global poverty and injustice are part of its very DNA:
Inform about the roots and causes of hunger, reflecting on the processes that have brought to this dramatic food crisis
Promote a fair trade choice as a concrete instrument for struggling against global and international trade inequalities
Provide people with an opportunity to enact such a change through daily gestures oriented by responsible lifestyles – choices that might relocate the consumer and her/his power to inform the market at the very heart of the trade scenery.
Fair Trade has something to say
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Stop the market of hunger
For a fair food market
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Equal opportunity access to market means To pay a fair price to producers, above market standards
To fully develop the local / national market beside exporting
Make land, water, and means of production available to small producers
Guarantee food sovereignty
Regulate trade and agricultural production for a sustainable development
Limit the dumping of food products
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
Equal opportunity access to market does not mean
To block international trade and exchange; quite the other way, it means to promote politics and practices sustaining the right to food access for everyone, as well as an ecological, healthy, and safe food production
Right to food campaign
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovaka, Slovenia
Right to food campaign
Objectives
Make public opinion aware of the necessity for universal food access
Promote Fair Trade as a valid solution
Promote individual participation
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
The Right to Food campaign focuses on:
The globalization of the food market Traditional industrial chains versus short chains in the Global North
and South The raw material market (coffee, cocoa, bananas, etc.) Prices and dumping politics The situation of rural women Food and intercultural education GMO and the protection of biodiversity/ free access to seed Food production vs. production for alternative energy sources
1. INFORM
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
We have very positive Fair Trade projects as examples
Navdanya, India (Rice) Elements, India (Coffee, Cajou, Vanilla) Parc, Palestine (Cous Cous, Almonds, Dates) Coopeagri, Costa Rica (Bio sugar) Uciri, Mexico (Coffee) Podie, Sri lanka (Spices) Wupperthal & Heiveld, South Africa (Rooibos) Chankuap Foundation, Ecuador (essential oils) Saterè Mawe, Amazzonia (guarana) MCCH – Food Sovereignty Project
2. VALORIZE
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
I support the right to food 1. Choose Fair Trade
2. Choose organic3. Choose local food4. Protect biodiversity
5. Moderate meat consumption6. Avoid waste7. No GMO, yes BIO
8. Sustain ethical finance9. Save energy and choose alternative energy (not biofuel!)10. Use water responsibly
3. INVOLVEMENT
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
The campaign addresses
Fair Trade volunteersConsumersSchools Institutions and AdministrationsMedia
Right to food
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia
The Right to food campaign is promoted by the following European organizations, within the framework of the Enlarging Fair project
• Ctm altromercato, Italy• Pangea-Niente Troppo, Italy• KKG - Koperattiva Kummerc Gust, Malta• Society for Fair Trade, Czech Republic• FAIRTRADE Slovakia• Umanotera, Slovenia• Védegylet Egyesület - Protect the Future Society, Hungary
Right to food
Enlarging FairCzech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia