Food and nutritional sovereignty in the Amazon

On February 24, Sinergias Alianzas Estratégicas para la salud y el desarrollo sostenible (Strategic Alliances for Health and Sustainable Development) participated in the lecture series Comer sabroso: Sostenibilidad, Abundancias y Carencias como desafíos de la Seguridad y la Soberanía Alimentarias (Eating Well: Sustainability, Abundance, and Shortages as Challenges to Food Security and Sovereignty) at the Amazonian Research Institute (IMANI) of the National University of Colombia - Amazonia campus.

During the event, Pablo Montoya, public health physician and director of Sinergias, gave a presentation entitled Food and Nutritional Sovereignty in the Amazon: Policies and Concepts versus Realities, in which he discussed the concept of food sovereignty and the balance or mediations that must be taken into account in the real contexts experienced in the Amazon. “The concept of food sovereignty encompasses issues of autonomy, specifically regarding what is grown, how it is grown, and where it is grown. All of this is developed through collective participatory processes that take into account local knowledge systems and cultural aspects linked to production and food. There is a strong commitment to ensuring that decisions are made locally, and there is a very important element of sustainability,” he explained.

Pablo Montoya pointed out that although the concept began to take shape in the 1980s, it was in the mid-1990s that it became linked to the resistance of peasant movements, particularly in relation to the use of seeds, land ownership and use, and food production methods. However, he added, it represents a historical process that must be mediated with current territorial realities.

“There are factors that facilitate and others that hinder reaching that goal, and it is about how to mediate between these realities through public policies, control, and social struggle, to achieve food sovereignty.”

In relation to the specific scenario of the Amazon, it was also noted that it is a very large region, covering nearly 8 million square kilometers distributed across nine countries that make up a connected ecosystem. That is why it is necessary to ensure cross-border processes for managing these situations that also focus on the different approaches, contexts, and scenarios in the region. “If we are going to think about Amazonian policies, there are actually several different Amazon regions. We have the foothills region, the transition region, savannas, and large forests. So there are many different contexts that also require specific approaches,” he added.

The presentation cited the example of public food and nutrition policies for the Amazon and Vaupés, the former having been approved and the latter currently being developed. Both focus on the human right to adequate food and address the following needs: improving agricultural and livestock production; preserving food culture; controlling food quality; promoting resource sustainability; and promoting healthy habits.

During the event, there was also discussion of the importance of understanding additional dimensions that exist in the indigenous worldview, such as the relationship with the land, a concept that encompasses everything and therefore includes notions of health. There was also discussion of the need to understand these as socio-historical constructions of knowledge and worldviews.

“Food sovereignty is achieved primarily by preserving the responsibility to nurture these relationships between the land, plants, and animals, and is the result of an interaction between a multiplicity of beings that are bound together in this context,” added Pablo Montoya.