Here's the story of our POLITICS OF PROTEIN report out today. A thread 🧵

For decades, governments & corporations expanded factory farming - claiming more protein was needed for #foodsecurity.

Now they're confronted with the consequences... /1

https://twitter.com/IPESfood/status/1511962226244083721

Devastating deforestation, immense land use, pollution, impacts on health, climate & animals from intensive factory farming are clear for all to see.

Thankfully momentum for change is growing. /2

💡 How the resetting of corporate control of food systems is already well under way 👇🏾

📰 frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

🧵 A thread on #foodsystems & the #UNFSS /1 Few people will dispute that global food systems need transformation, but this #UNFSS is instead an effort by a powerful alliance of multinational corporations, philanthropies, and export-oriented countries to subvert multilateral institutions of food #governance.

/2

In the #LongFoodMovement report, we're reminded that the world’s 30 million artisanal #fishers and workers provide nearly half of the #fish we eat (@IPBES, 2019).

But with #climatechange & island/ocean grabbing, small-scale fishers & their communities are in peril.

🧵Thread 👇🏾

https://twitter.com/IPBES/status/1376856935673307138

Island/#ocean grabbing is likely to intensify as countries seek to solidify their influence, their #food supply chains, & their global sourcing and distribution networks. For example, in the #RedSea region, conflicts over fish & other marine resources threaten rich #biodiversity.

NEW 📰 IPES-Food & @ETC_Group launch the #LongFoodMovement report | What would 2045 look like if it's still "agribusiness-as-usual"? Or can civil society & social movements prevail for healthy, equitable & sustainable #foodsystems? 🌍

Discover more at bit.ly/longfood 🌱 "Agribusiness-as-usual" means a powerful few control #food tech & farming #data.

But civil society can fight back.

A #LongFoodMovement can boost post-pandemic resilience, slash emissions in ag. by 75%, & shift $4 trillion to sustainable food & farming: bit.ly/longfood

📚 This #InternationalWomensDay, a little reading on the West African context 👇🏾

Our partners spent 3 years preparing our report on the transition to #agroecology in West Africa. It was (and remains) abundantly clear how critical #women are to this transition 🌿

🧵Thread /1 "#Women produce between 40-80% of food in the region and playing a leading role in local #food distribution and street vending in West Africa." #IWD2021

📖 ipes-food.org/_img/upload/fi…

/2

🔎 'Corporate concentration in the US #food system makes food more expensive and less accessible for many Americans' 💵🌽🇺🇸

🗞️ Excellent new piece in the @ConversationUS by @hendricksonm & IPES-Food's own Phil Howard 👇🏾

Quick thread! 🧵/1

theconversation.com/corporate-conc… "We’ve closely followed #corporate consolidation of food production, processing and distribution in the U.S. over the past 40 years. In our view, this process is making #food less available or affordable for many Americans," say Hendrickson & Howard. /2

📽️@UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to #Food, @MichaelFakhri, delivers a special video message ahead of our #CFS47 side event tomorrow:

💡 Global Response to #COVID19 #Hunger Crisis: Developing Effective Policy Responses through the @UN_CFS [🧵thread]

"COVID19 has not only been a public health crisis, but it has also generated a hunger crisis. The virus is new, but it has been predictably harshest on marginalised people. In fact, the world was falling behind on realising the right to food even before the current pandemic." /2

In IPES-Food's latest report, 'The Added Value(s) of #Agroecology', we focused on a series of obstacles that prevent the transition to agroecological #foodsystems.

🌱 One such obstacle is the *access to #seeds & #organic inputs*. Here's a quick thread on why this matters! 👇🏿

/1 #Farmer seed systems - through which farmers select, multiply, conserve & exchange a wide range of reproducible varieties - are an essential component of #agroecology, which relies on diversity at all levels (including crop genetic diversity). 🌱🌿🌾

/2

🇺🇸 A national #food policy for the #UnitedStates:

Calls for a "National Food Policy" have been made for decades - with quite some resurgence in the past few years.

So, rooted in existing efforts & movement building, IPES-Food’s #US team is gearing up for more discussions.

/1 We're collectively developing a process through which policy makers, the private sector, researchers, tribal nations and civil society might align their efforts to make a sustainable US food system a reality. The aim? ...

/2

After access to finance, another big obstacle to agroecology is *ACCESS TO #LAND & #WATER* 🌳🚰

📰This month we published 'The Added Value(s) of #Agroecology: Unlocking the potential for transition in West #Africa'

🔎 The research shows why land & water are fundamental 👇🏿

/1 Rapid #population growth, urban sprawl, and land grabbing have created unprecedented pressures on #land and #water resources in West #Africa. Moreover, land laws, often rooted in the colonial era, have generally failed to protect customary tenure and land use.

/2

"In the name of economic growth, we've sacrificed #ecosystems, and we've exhausted the women and men in the economy, by subjecting them to huge pressure from the #globalisation of competition and the deregulation of labour markets." - IPES-Food's Olivier De Schutter @DeSchutterO

https://twitter.com/TRF_Stories/status/1309131931678846981

"We must think of a different kind of #development: one that does not see economic growth as a precondition for everything else," IPES-Food co-chair @DeSchutterO tells @thinink.

In our latest report, we look at some of the obstacles facing #agroecology in West #Africa and beyond 🌍

📰 ipes-food.org/_img/upload/fi…

But even if you haven't had a chance to read it, don't worry. We'll start giving you a #thread a day.

Obstacles #1?

Access to #finance 💵 Agroecological systems require little investment in external inputs and heavy machinery, as a result of drawing on natural synergies, maximizing #biodiversity, and using locally-available resources.

🇺🇸 What about a U.S. #food policy? Is there even one to speak of right now? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Stay tuned during the coming weeks for more on a National Food Policy in the #UnitedStates.

... In the meantime, Molly Anderson and Ricardo Salvador give their take 👇🏾

The current U.S. food system is governed by a patchwork of uncoordinated policy frameworks and federal departments: #agriculture, #health, #environment, #energy, social security, #labor, #education.

NEW REPORT 📰 The Added Value(s) of #Agroecology: Unlocking the potential for transition in West Africa 🌱

🌍 West #Africa has all the ingredients to become a “global frontrunner in agroecology,” according to experts at IPES-Food. Discover why!

👉 ipes-food.org/pages/Agroecol… Latest report by IPES-Food points to #WestAfrica’s “path to resilience and the #SDGs” through #agroecology. 🌿

➡️ ipes-food.org/pages/Agroecol…

@FAOSDGs @futureoffoodorg @oxfamwestafrica @FSCluster @FoodSystems @UNBiodiversity @AndreaLearned @CivilEats @UnescoChairFood

#OPINION 📰 Reform of @CGIAR is long overdue. However, IPES-Food is concerned that the current reform process will fall short of the fundamental change that is required, and risks exacerbating major power imbalances in global agricultural #development. 👇

ipsnews.net/2020/07/one-cg… The process now underway to reform the @CGIAR is of major public interest. Since its inception at the height of the ‘Green Revolution’ in 1971, the #CGIAR has driven advances in crop breeding and agricultural mechanization and modernization across multiple continents.

LISTEN 📻 “Diversity of production and markets is a buffer against vulnerability. Closures of local markets have been short-sighted and damaging to small-scale #farmers and people’s access to #food."🍎

@mleach_ids of IPES-Food & @davidnabarro of @WHO 👇

faifarms.com/podcasts/the-o… @ffinlocostain discusses #COVID19 & the crisis in our #foodsystems w/ @davidnabarro, Special Envoy of @WHO DG on Covid19, & Prof @mleach_ids CBE, a member of IPES-Food. Discussion includes #zoonotic spillover, #OneHealth & strengths & weaknesses in global #food system. 🌱🌿🌻

🗞️ 'Industrial #agriculture receiving bulk of #Africa’s agricultural development funding'

💵 "Investments by Bill & Melinda @gatesfoundation, #Kenya and #Switzerland still reinforce status quo in agricultural research," write @Nipashetz #MoneyFlows

ippmedia.com/en/news/indust… "New data shows that only a fraction of agricultural research funding in #Africa is being used to transform #food and farming systems. Only 3% of @gatesfoundation projects in Africa support sustainable, regenerative approaches – or #agroecology," says #Tanzania's @Nipashetz

NEW 📰 The #MoneyFlows report by Biovision, IPES-Food & IDS is out! We look at financial flows in #foodsystems & find out just what is holding back investment in agroecological research in #Africa! 🌱🌍

👉 agroecology-pool.org/MoneyFlowsrepo…

@FutureForAll @IPESfood @IDS_UK 🌿#Agroecology #MoneyFlows shines a light on some of the most contentious flows of all 💵 We look at investments by:

➡️ The Bill & Melinda @gatesfoundation
🔎 agroecology-pool.org/download/3279/
➡️ #Kenya-n research institutes 🇰🇪
🔎 agroecology-pool.org/download/3282/
➡️ #Switzerland 🇨🇭
🔎 agroecology-pool.org/download/3285/

#OPINION | “#Agroecology tied to SDGs and the #ParisAgreement? That’s a virtuous circle!” 🌱🌍

🗓️On 10 June we release the #MoneyFlows report on investments in agroecological research in #Africa.

But first we talked to @Afsafrica's @Million_Belay!

👉 ipes-food.org/pages/money-fl… "#Agroecology is transformative. It is different because it goes beyond resource efficiency and simply substituting the current system with alternative practices. Actually, agroecology includes #ecosystem, #community and global level transformation," says @Million_Belay.

📽️ Olivier De Schutter spoke to @FRANCE24 on global supply chain disruption.

💬 Why are so many people on the brink in a world that produces more than enough to eat?

See '#COVID19: Global #food supply on a razor's edge' on the @DownToEarth programme 👇

.@DeSchutterO: "Our #food system as it is has been conceived & designed in order to be as efficient as possible. “Efficiency” - meaning uniformity, economies of scale and specialisation - was prioritised at the expense of #resilience."

france24.com/en/20200511-do…

NEW 📰 '#COVID19 and the Crisis in #Food Systems'

Communiqué by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable #FoodSystems 🌱

Symptoms & causes of the crisis? Why this perfect storm? What reforms do we need to protect people & planet? 🌍

➡️ ipes-food.org 🚨 Press Release by IPES-Food:

'#COVID19 and the Crisis in #Food Systems'

➡️ ipes-food.org/pages/covid19

FR | Bientôt en français.
ES | Pronto en español.

@MattMcGrathBBC @thinink @RudyRuitenberg
@BBCHughPym @realfoodmedia @NickClarkAlJaz
@NaomiStarkman @valgauriat