Dear Mr Carmichael,
You will be aware that on Saturday June 8th David
Cameron hosted a hunger summit in London. Most press coverage of this event
portrayed him as a champion for the global poor as he pledged £375 million of
the UK aid budget to the G8’s “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition”.
However, we believe there is another side to this story and the clue lies in
the venue for the summit - not
Downing Street or the
Department for International Development but the London offices of agribusiness
giant , Unilever.
The “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition” is a
public-private partnership promising to “accelerate responsible investment in
African agriculture and lift 50 million people out of poverty by 2022”. There
is plenty in it to benefit Unilever and the other multinationals including
Monsanto, Cargill and Syngenta who have all signed up, but it’s extremely
unlikely to translate into poverty reduction.
The World Development Movement believes that the alliance
will sow the seeds for a large agribusiness expansion in the African continent
and that participating countries are being forced to sign up to agreements that
facilitate land grabs and pave the way for the spread of GM seeds, further
impoverishing African farmers.
Almost 200 African farming and campaign groups have rejected
the G8’s “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition” calling it a “new wave
of colonialism” in a statement sent to G8 leaders prior to the summit. Their
analysis is clear - ”Private
ownership of knowledge and material resources means the flow of royalties out
of Africa into the hands of multinational corporations”
Whilst the summit was taking place, local food activists and
gardeners in Stroud were creating a vibrant Pop-Up garden on the High Street to
oppose this corporate-led approach and to highlight the fact small-scale
producers feed half of the world’s population. Similar actions were taking
places in London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Bristol. Members of the public were
encourage to join the Food Sovereignty
movement - a campaign for sustainable and just food systems which places the
people who produce, distribute and consume food at the centre for
decisions rather than the demands
of markets and corporations.
We are asking you to reject the aims of the New Alliance and
show solidarity with small-scale producers by supporting the demands of the
food sovereignty movement. You can find out more on the Food Sovereignty Now
website: www.foodsovereigntynow.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Sheila Macbeth
Carol Mathews
Jo Bousfield
James Beecher
Jenni Willis
Dr. Nicholas
James- Stroud food Strategy Group
Phillip Booth- District Councillor
Francis Barton
Martin Whiteside- District Councillor
Nick Weir- Director of Stroudco Food Hub
Sheila Lisster
Caroline Molloy
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