Global Movements Unite for Food Sovereignty Summit in Sri Lanka

Representatives from more than 20 countries are preparing to converge in Sri Lanka this September for what organizers are calling a landmark event in the global struggle for food sovereignty and social transformation.

The Nyeleni Global Forum, named after a legendary Malian woman who symbolizes food sovereignty, will bring together over 500 delegates from farmers’ organizations, indigenous communities, fishers, women’s movements, and other grassroots initiatives to develop a common political agenda addressing multiple interconnected global crises.

During a recent press briefing in Negombo, Sri Lanka, members of the forum’s global steering committee outlined their vision for the upcoming summit, emphasizing that the gathering represents a unified response to the mounting challenges facing rural communities worldwide.

“At this moment, the world is not a favorable place for people struggling with their lives in rural areas, dealing with food and hunger issues,” said Chinthaka Rajapaksha, moderator of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR) in Sri Lanka. “Throughout the world, including in Sri Lanka, rural farmers and all those involved in food production have become the group subjected to severe suffering, pressure, and exploitation.”

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Building on Decades of Resistance

According to Paula Gioia of La Via Campesina, an international movement representing millions of small-scale food producers, the Nyeleni Forum builds on a long history of resistance dating back to the 1990s when the concept of food sovereignty was first articulated.

“Over all those years, we have had some victories at local and global levels, institutional achievements. But at the same time, we have seen that the system has been generating more and more prolonged crises,” Gioia explained. “These crises are not only in the food sector but repeat with similar characteristics across health, environment, economies, and democracies.”

Organizers stressed that the timing of the summit is particularly significant for Sri Lanka, which experienced widespread popular uprisings in 2022 that led to governmental changes.

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Beyond Criticism: Proposing Alternatives

Jana Nakhal from the World March of Women-Lebanon emphasized that the forum will focus not just on criticizing existing structures but on developing concrete alternatives to the “capitalist, colonial, abusive, exploitative, extractivist, and patriarchal system.”

“It is very important for us to think together about alternatives to our economies, to our relationship with nature, with the commons, our relationship to our health, our bodies, and our heritage,” Nakhal said. “The marginalized and invisibilized communities are the ones who are put forward, from indigenous communities, from women, from diversities, from the colonized peoples, from agricultural workers.”

The summit aims to address issues beyond food, including regional conflicts and wars that affect ordinary citizens. Representatives specifically mentioned ongoing tensions in South Asia and the situation in Palestine as examples of conflicts that the movements stand against.

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Agroecology as Path Forward

Marcos Filard from the People’s Health Movement in Argentina highlighted agroecology as a central solution being proposed by the coalition.

“Through agroecology, we can feed the world, cool the planet, and achieve social justice for our farmers and peasants in different territories,” Filard stated. “Through food sovereignty and agroecology, we can achieve justice and health for all.”

Filard also noted that Sri Lanka’s past efforts to restrict harmful agricultural chemicals—though controversially implemented—aligned with the coalition’s broader vision, suggesting that such transitions need to be managed carefully to be successful.

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People Over Profits

Mariann Bassey from Friends of the Earth Nigeria emphasized the importance of prioritizing human welfare over corporate interests in food systems.

“Most times when policies come out, they don’t take into cognizance the people that are most affected and instead fit into a corporate narrative,” Bassey observed. “We are saying that it should be people over and above corporate interest.”

The Nyeleni Global Forum is scheduled for September 2025 in Sri Lanka, with preparations already underway. Organizers expect the summit to produce a shared political agenda and action plan for what they describe as “systemic transformations” needed to address the multiple crises facing humanity and the planet.

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For more information on the Nyeleni Global Forum , visit their official website.

SIDEBAR: What is 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.

The concept was first introduced by La Via Campesina at the 1996 World Food Summit and has since grown into a global movement challenging corporate-dominated food systems. Food sovereignty advocates for:

• Prioritizing local food production for local markets
• Ensuring fair prices for farmers
• Giving communities control over productive resources like land, water, and seeds
• Recognizing women’s roles in food production
• Putting food producers and consumers at the center of decision-making

The term “Nyeleni” comes from the first food sovereignty forum held in Mali in 2007, named after a legendary Malian woman who embodied food sovereignty principles.