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Groups across the globe express 'grave concern' over possibility of corporate capture of UN Food Systems Summit
Civil society and small-scale food producers’ groups across the globe have expressed “grave concern‘’ over the decision of the United Nations leadership to include representatives of global and transnational capital and the agribusiness sector in organizing the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.
In a letter, at least 330 organizations told UN Secretary-General António Guterres that while they “recognize the importance and timeliness,“ of the summit, they also believe that it “is not building on the legacy of past world food summits,“ and may likely be eroded by corporate capture.
Earlier food summits led by the Food and Agriculture Organization had resulted in “innovative, inclusive, and participatory governance mechanisms with the goal of realizing the right to adequate food for all,“ according to the groups.
[Read a GNRTFN news article in Spanish related to this issue here.]
However, with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)’s Agnes Kalibata as among the partners and key actors in convening the summit, the groups were doubtful whether the event, tentatively scheduled in September 2021, would enable the UN to meet its summit goals.
The UN said it would hold the summit to “launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs (sustainable development goals), each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.“
Partnership with WEF 'casts a cloud on UN’s integrity'
“The UN-WEF strategic partnership agreement signed in June 2019 casts a cloud on the integrity of the United Nations (UN) as a multilateral system,“ the groups said in their letter to the UN chief.
Earlier, about 400 civil society groups sent a letter to the UN chief urging him to terminate the said partnership that would make the UN engage in and utilize the different platforms provided by the WEF in relation to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The 17 SDGs, which include “no poverty,“ “zero hunger,“ “reduced inequality“ and “climate action“ goals, that will be tackled in the 2021 Food Systems Summit are a part of the 2030 Agenda.
“We believe that this agreement is fundamentally at odds with the UN Charter and with intergovernmental decisions on sustainable development, the climate emergency, and the eradication of poverty and hunger,“ the groups said in their latest letter to Mr. Guterres, referring to the UN's partnership with the WEF.
“It will provide transnational corporations (TNCs) preferential access to the UN system and permanently associate the UN with TNCs, some of whose core activities have caused and/or worsened the social, economic and environmental crises the world faces,“ they added.
Among the funder-members of the WEF, an international nongovernment organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, are about 1,000 multinational and transnational companies and industry leaders.
Family farmers, not agribusiness, should be at the center of the summit
On the issue of Agnes Kalibata’s appointment as the UN secretary-general’s special envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, the groups said this “contradicts the innovative spirit of the summit“ and “presents a clear conflict of interest with regards to the stated purposes“ of the event because she is the president of AGRA, which “is an alliance that promotes the interests of agribusiness.“
The groups said “agribusinesses focus primarily on productivity and yields, whereas the notion of food systems makes visible the multi-dimensionality of food, much of which is related to public purpose objectives that cannot be met through corporate interests.“
“Family farmers produce more than 80% of the world’s food in value terms. They should be at the center of the UN Food Systems Summit, particularly during this UN Decade on Family Farming,“ they added.