Acute food insecurity soared after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, which triggered the\u00a0spike in cost-of-living\u00a0<\/a>that characterizes today\u2019s global food crisis. As of\u00a0July 2022<\/a>, acute food insecurity was present in 82 countries, affecting 345 million people.<\/p>\n An estimated 882,000 are facing the risk of falling into \u201ccatastrophic\u201d hunger conditions, and many of the affected countries are in the conflict-stricken region of West Asia-North Africa. The four hunger hotspots at the highest alert are\u00a0joined by two more countries<\/a>\u00a0this year, with famine waving especially in\u00a0Somalia<\/a>.<\/p>\n The global food crisis is compounded by climate change, which causes\u00a0weather extremes<\/a>\u00a0that further drive acute food insecurity. Drought in Africa has pushed 23.5 million people in eight countries to crisis-level or worse of food insecurity last year, from 2020\u2019s 15.7 million in 15 countries. In Pakistan, the monsoonal rains in August caused a \u201csuperflood\u201d that killed 1,100 people, affected more than 33 million, and washed away farmlands and millions of homes to date.<\/p>\n These figures provide a bit of an overview of the global hunger situation and the state of the current global food crisis amid the ongoing pandemic and climate emergency. The urgency and necessity to radically transform our food systems have never been so stark.<\/p>\n The global corporate food empire is on the move and exploiting these crises, with the imperialist US working proactively behind the scenes.<\/p>\n The US, the world\u2019s largest imperialist power, continues to assert its prominent role in shaping the global food agenda. Pushing the narrative that the Russian government is\u00a0\u201csquarely and solely\u201d<\/a>\u00a0responsible for this cost-of-living crisis due to its invasion of Ukraine, it gathered heads of state and tabled its\u00a0Roadmap for Global Food Security<\/a>\u00a0at a\u00a0Global Food Security Summit<\/a>\u00a0last September 20 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.<\/p>\n The US is painting itself as a catalyst of global food security and peace, when in fact it is the world\u2019s leading warmonger, backing the illegal occupation of territories and launching its own wars of aggression that are starving millions.<\/p>\n Representing the agenda of the US and other imperialist powers, the United Nations assumes leadership in the global governance of food toward attaining the so-called 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by coordinating global response to the food crisis and issuing policy recommendations consistent with the outcomes of the UNFSS. Its\u00a025-year<\/a>\u00a0agenda of action dubbed\u00a0\u201cOur Common Agenda\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is setting the direction by and large for its actions post-UNFSS, marked by a \u201cmore networked, more inclusive, and more effective multilateralism.\u201d<\/p>\n With its dominant position in the world increasingly challenged, especially with the rise of China, the US is actively working to maintain its commanding role, including in\u00a0\u201cshaping the future of the UN.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0For the global food systems, this means preserving the current power relations in determining agri-food policies with US imperialism at the helm, continuing the neoliberal onslaught, and perpetuating neocolonial ties with poor countries \u2014 the very core of the multiple crises we face.<\/p>\n Corporations, rich nations, international finance institutions, and other neoliberal actors remain to be indispensable in their vision of food systems transformation. Global South countries are still pushed to rely on debt to survive, obligating them to implement neoliberal reforms, band-aid solutions, and corporate-driven technologies that only secure corporate profit. Most importantly, rural peoples and marginalized sectors are still nowhere at the helm of decision-making.<\/p>\n We can only radically transform our global food system into one that is just, equitable, healthy, and sustainable by unchaining our food from this neoliberal order\u2014by breaking the chains of imperialist plunder, unshackling rural producers from poverty and landlessness, and unlinking food systems from unsustainable and destructive agriculture.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>In the face of these challenges, the rural peoples of the world never ceased to fight for our right to food and people\u2019s food sovereignty.\u00a0 Movements like the People\u2019s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and its members across the globe have carried on with the struggle for just, equitable, healthy, and sustainable systems, following the successful Global People\u2019s Summit on Food Systems (GPS) last year.<\/p>\n In commemoration of this year\u2019s World Hunger Day on October 16, the PCFS, Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) and PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) call to\u00a0Unchain Our Food from Imperialism!<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0year commemoration of World Hunger Day, which the APC initiated to dispute the UN FAO\u2019s World Food Day celebration and emphasize the real situation and struggles of the rural people especially in the Global South.<\/p>\n 10AM Chile | 2PM Luxembourg (CET) | 4PM Uganda\/Jordan | 6PM Australia (Sydney) | 9PM Philippines\/Malaysia<\/em><\/p>\n Register:\u00a0<\/em>bit.ly\/BreakingImperialistFoodChains<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n To kick off our World Hunger Day campaign this year, an online forum is organized to expose how the continued and intensified neoliberal offensive is taking place in our food systems amid the global food crisis; critique the recent efforts of imperialist powers, including the US\u2019s Food Security Summit, to supposedly transform the global food systems; and reaffirm the calls and demands of the GPS as the immediate and long-term response to the food crisis.<\/p>\n The event is organized by PCFS in partnership with PANAP and International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The 16 Days of Global Action on Agroecology is an annual campaign organized and participated in by PANAP and its partners, agroecology advocates and small food producers\u2019 movements. Held from 1 to 16 October, the 16-day campaign is a series of community-initiated awareness-raising activities such as discussion and fora, cultural activities, seed exchanges, food festivals, farmer learning exchanges, rallies and policy advocacy, among others, aimed at promoting and advancing agroecology. It culminates on Rural Women\u2019s Day (15 October) and World Hunger Day (16 October).<\/p>\n Sign-on statement:\u00a0<\/em>bit.ly\/3fs3xYp<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nObjectives<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
Activities<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/whd-2022-poster-activities.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n