Report of the Food Sovereignty Meeting on Land Issues

[Darren]

http://www.nyelenieurope.net/en/news/70-report-of-the-food-sovereignty-meeting-on-land-issues

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY MEETING ON LAND ISSUES AT FIRENZE 10+10

(ACCESS TO LAND AND LAND TENURE)

In frame of the European Social Forum, Firenze 10+10, held in Firenze, 
Italy on 8-11. November 2012, (http://www.firenze1010.eu/) the Nyeleni 
Europe Movement for Food Sovereignty, the European Coordination La Via 
Campesina, Manitese, A.I.A.B and Cospe organised the first follow up 
meeting for the Axis 4 - Reclaiming the Right to our Commons. With more 
then 70 participants, the discussion in Firenze focused land issues 
divided to the following three topics:

1. EXPERIENCES ON LAND GRABBING IN EUROPE - presented by representatives 
from Eastern Europe, Norway and Italy

2. POSITIVE EXPERIENCES ON ACCESS TO LAND - presentations from the 
Reclaim the Fields Movement, representative of Terre de Lien, France, 
representatives of Italy and Austria

3. INTRODUCING THE VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ON THE RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE OF 
TENURE OF LAND, FISHERIES AND FORESTS IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL FOOD 
SECURITY

Foto: Anna Korzenszky

Linked to the Nyeleni Europe Action Plan, the main issues are:

REJECT: Land Grabbing:

- EU framework pressures for foreign and national investments within 
member states,

- Linked to intra national inequalities,

- Fight back the de-agrarianisation of our societies,

- Own land as commons



TRANSFORM: Access to Land concrete proposal:

- land squatting and land occupation,

- mobilise public land for food purpose (fighting against the sale of 
public land),

- multi stakeholder dynamics and synergies (expand and diverse networks),

- internet toolkit about existing experiences regarding access to land 
(obstacles, key enabling policy factors),

- agrarian reform of CAP



BUILD: LAUNCHING AGRARIAN REFORMS (Policy level)

- Local (issues around repossess and protect vulnerable land; address 
role of local officials facilitating LG; propose laws to insure good 
land will go to people that will have good use of it—for food production!).

- National (monitoring and punishing or preventing foreign corporations; 
problem of inaccessibility of small scale and future farmers to 
institutional support).

- International (EU policy framework consolidates underway land 
grabbing; CAP reform based on different starting point, i.e. the needs 
of small-scale farmers; VG implementation).