European Food Sovereignty movement

I saw a while back that the Women's Environmental Movement (WEN) and War on Want are interested in supporting a European Food Sovereignty movement. This is all about taking back control of food and agricultural processes through grassroots action and linking up with ordinary citizens in the global South.

The movement ties in with other groups around the world fighting to democratise food and agricultural systems. This all sounds good stuff - and fits with alot of what many of us are trying to achieve locally - the recent Edible Open Gardens was about trying to encourage more people to grow their own food - see more about why we opened the gardens here.

The food sovereignty movement is framed around six key (and totally sensible) principles, established by citizens worldwide and named after a legendary Malian peasant woman farmer, Nyelini. For more information about this new project click here: http://nyeleni2011.net/

WEN write: "It sounds ambitious – but it’s not impossible. At the launch of the UK side of the movement last month, Canadian activists explained how they created Canada’s first-ever citizen-led national food policy, despite having only one paid member of staff with the bulk of the work carried out by ordinary citizens giving their time for free. They gained a lot of media exposure, are now taken seriously by government agencies, and are beginning to exert leverage when it comes to food issues."

This project deserves lots of support so please give consideration to supporting it.