By Kurt Eulau

by Karla Pena

Unprecedented!
Ecuador established Food Sovereignty in their Constitution approved by a referendum vote of 64% of the population on September 28, 2008. The people of Ecuador have the right to "Good Living," a healthy environment ecologically harmonized to guarantee the right to food. The State will enforce the established rights to aid in recent food price increase and localize their food systems by supporting their small and medium farmers in sustainable development (Agroecology).

Is this new constitution a prototype that other countries can look to?

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Fall 2008

By Heidi Conner, Juliana Mandell, Meera Velu and Annie Shattuck

The food crisis is worsening. The UN World Food Program predicts a jump in the number of hungry people in the world from 860 million to more than one billion people—one of every six people in the world. Retail prices of food in the U.S. increased four percent last year, driven by a combination of speculation, high oil prices, agrofuel consumption, a weak dollar, climatic

We do not view the food crisis as an unexpected, sudden emergency of the last year, but as the inevitable consequence of misguided agricultural and food policies over the last 30 years.

We will not resolve the problems exposed by this food crisis with more of the same policies and thinking. A wholesale change in the worldwide food system is necessary to address these problems sustainably and equitably.

Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project: Food From the Ground up

By Emma Tome with photos by Jeannie Li

Lisa Stephens, ‘gardener in chief’ at Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project, can’t quite estimate just how much food the farm produces each week, nor how much food they sell. “It really depends on how many people are working on the farm,” she says, “In a good year, we’ll get up to four tons.”

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	bgr spring 2008 -Food Rebellions.pdf	522.81 KB

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	BG Sp08 De Rebelion por Comida 5-08.pdf	633.48 KB

Hunger in a World of Plenty

The skyrocketing cost of food has resurrected the specter of "food riots." The World Bank reports that global food prices rose 83% over the last three years and the FAO cites a 45% increase in their wold food price index during just the past nine months. The Economist's comparable index stands at its highest point since it was originally formulated in 1848. As of March 2008, average world wheat prices were 130% above their level a year earlier, soy prices were 87% higher, rice had climbed 74% and maize was up 31%.

Friends of the Earth International MEDIA ADVISORY

GREAT LAND GRAB THREAT AT U.N. CLIMATE TALKS IN GHANA

ACCRA (GHANA), 19 August 2008 -

Delegates attending the United Nations climate talks in Accra on 21th - 27th August will focus on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD) but environmental campaigners are warning against the inclusion of forests in carbon markets.

Friends of the Earth International warns that the inclusion of forests in carbon markets enables developed countries to avoid real carbon emissions reductions at home.

TEGUCIGALPA, July 30.— In an effort to guarantee regional food security,
representatives of the 18 Petrocaribe member countries are meeting in
Honduras as of Wednesday for a ministerial level summit on agriculture.
A newly created Petrocaribe Food Fund will begin with some US $500 million, reported Prensa Latina.

The initiative came from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to help reactivate the agricultural sectors of the countries that benefit from the discount oil sold to them by Venezuela and seeks to increase the supply of basic grains and compensate for the high food prices.

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	Terra-Preta-Statement.pdf	139.92 KB

Terra Preta:* Forum on the Food Crisis, Climate Change, Agrofuels and Food Sovereignty

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

WE ARE THE DIFFERENCE!

1 - 4 June, 2008