Later this month at the behest of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), governmental representatives from around the world will convene for a third world food summit in Rome.

While the FAO has prepared an official declaration to launch the summit, a group of civil society organizations have prepared their own draft document: Policies & Actions to Eradicate Hunger and Malnutrition.  These alternative proposals are based not on the lobbying of mega food corporations, but rather on the experiences of small-scale farmers, indigenous peoples, pastoralists, women, youth, social movements, and others from all over the world.

Their understandings and advocacy arise in the context of an emerging food sovereignty movement that recognizes an essential human right to adequate clean food – food grown in a way that does not poison our environment.

You can read their letter, and also sign a supportive petition in at the Eradicate Hunger website.

Here are some of their key ideas. “We strongly believe that the actions to eradicate hunger and malnutrition must be based on a vision of a world where:

•  food sovereignty is implemented by communities, peoples, states and international institutions;

•  all peoples, societies and states determine their own food systems and have policies that ensure availability of sufficient, good quality, affordable, healthy food;

•  there is recognition and respect for women’s rights and their crucial contribution to food provision;

•  terrestrial and aquatic environments and biodiversity are conserved and rehabilitated based on ecologically sustainable management of land, soils, water, seas, seeds, and livestock;

•  the diversity of traditional knowledge, food, language and culture, are all valued and respected.