Food Sovereignty
“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.”
— Declaration of Nyéléni, the first global forum on food sovereignty, Mali, 2007
The Temple of Understanding sees the urgent need to transform industrial agriculture and support smaller, more local agriculture as a key ingredient to a peaceful future.
As part of our work at the United Nations, we have, in collaboration with colleagues, made statements at the Geneva based Human Rights Council and represented the Women’s Major Group in the 2020 High Level Political Forum. Together, these statements outline our human rights based approach, and offer a set of practical implementations that remain relevant guidelines amidst the ongoing UN debates.
Ending Hunger and Achieving Food Security
Another part of our work at the United Nations is to follow up on concerns such as those raised by colleague Isis Alvarez of the Global Forest Coalition:
“Perverse initiatives endorsed by the Paris Agreement such as Climate Smart Agriculture surrender too much power to already powerful multinational corporations monopolizing the food industry setting the stage for the further demise of small peasant farmers especially women and their related traditional knowledge. Already a report from FAO (2014) demonstrated how agroecology could feed the world without the need for harmful and misleading technologies while empowering small scale farmers.”
Excerpt from the presentation by Isis Alvarez at the Open Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), based on “Proposed Resolution for UNEA on Paris Agreement” and “A Reality Check on the Paris Agreement from the Women and Gender Constituency (WGCY)”
Updates:
TOU and Convention on Biological Diversity
Temple of Understanding is proud to have received accreditation from the United Nations to participate in the upcoming convening of the parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held in Montreal and virtually this December 2022. We will continue to...
Dr. Vandana Shiva on Sacred Food
Dr. Vandana Shiva "I'm so happy to join the Forum 2021 on Sacred Food and Blessed Earth. We have forgotten that food is sacred and what we have forgotten is that sacred food comes from a blessed earth and goes back actually to bless the earth. It's not that humanity...
Grandmother Mona Polacca on Traditional Hopi Ecological Knowledge
Grandmother Mona Polacca "I'd like to greet each and every one of you, I'm happy to be here. This is a good day. This time that we are taking to acknowledge the blessing of our nourishment that is given to us by Mother Earth, as part of the, Sacred Food ~ Blessed...
Chief Oren Lyons on Instructions from the Great Peacemaker according to Haudenosaunee Tradition
Chief Oren Lyons "I began with our instruction. Now I'm just talking specifically about the Haudenosaunee, Six Nations, Iroquois Confederacy. I can't speak for the whole Indigenous Peoples' of North, Central and South America, although we are very, very similar on...
Chief Arvol Looking Horse Prayer for Sacred Food ~ Blessed Earth
Chief Arvol Looking Horse "I pray today. Like every morning we get up in the morning with a good mind to pray for the health and the wellbeing of all nations, that we are in a time of a global disasters. We are the crossroads and we need to pray and heal together for...
FORUM2021 Sacred Food ~ Blessed Earth
Watch the replay of our 61st anniversary event, FORUM2021.