WORLD FOOD SUMMIT 3 & People's Forum

I was out of the country for 10 days and come back to office yesterday.
It was an opportunity to attend the So called World Food Summit at Rome, where the state heads supposed to attend thos for find their solutions for the global food crisis which caused to made 1.2 Billion hungry people in the world today.
We as social movements, NGOs, trade unions attended the People's food sovereignty forum which was parrallel to the official food summit.
At the inauguration speech Mr. Jack Diouf, the DG of FAO addressing the people's gathering said " It is alarming condition that one child die in every 6 seconds in the world due to hunger and malnutrition. How can we allow this to happen as we have adequate food for all in the world. Also, it is our reponsibility to project how we could feed the world population of 9 billion in the year 2050. All these are our challenges"

Ms.Sherry Pictou, the Coordinator of WFFP, co-chairing the opening session said, " It is we have the solutions for the hunger and the malnutrition in the world as small food peoducers, we have our own traditional knowledges, our food cultures, our techniques we protected mother earth in harmony with it will be the main importance.
We promote Food Sovereignty as it agreed since Nyelini, Mali process as the solution to the food crisis. We are united as CSOs and will create the food sovereignty in the world. That is the solution for the global food crisis, financial crisis and the Climate crisis in the world today. We are confident, we make a difference and create history"

A Farmer leader from Basque country of LVC, Paul Nicolson said, "We are small and marginalized family farmers, agricultural workers, pastoralists, artisanal fish workers are the solution to the food crisis and we can cool the earth. The TNCs and the profiteers want to exploite the mother earth and we can not allow them to comtinue it. The state heads and FAO should not allow the TNCs and IFIs to dominate their decisions which they continued last 60 years. They have prooved their inability.
The state heads should listen to the People, the proposals and knowledge coming out from the bottom. Paul added.

Sarath Fernando, a social activist and an intellectual of Sri Lanka while attending the Models of Food Production working group said, "the only solution to this crisis it to restore the natures ability to produce food. Soil, water, and nature could peoduce food and when we are trying to disturb this ability caused the damage. "

The people's forum generated enormous energy and enthusiasm among the people attended at the forum around 650 or more last 13-18 November at Rome.

Herman Kumara