Food and nutritional sovereignty in the Amazon region

On February 24, Sinergias Alianzas Estratégicas para la salud y el desarrollo sostenible participated in the conference Comer sabroso: Sostenibilidad, Abundancias y Carencias como desafíos de la Seguridad y la Soberanía Alimentarias of the Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones IMANI of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia - sede Amazonía.

In the space, Pablo Montoya - health physician and director of Sinergias - developed his paper Food and nutritional sovereignty in the Amazon: policies and concepts versus realities, in which he spoke about 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 about what is grown, how it is grown and where it is grown. All 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 be constructed in the 1980s, it was around the mid-1990s when it was linked to the resistance of peasant movements linked, especially, to the use of seeds, the possession and use of land and the way in which food is produced. However, he added, it represents a historical process that must be mediated with current territorial realities.

"There are some factors that facilitate and others that prevent us from getting there, and that is how we manage to mediate between these realities through public policies, control and social struggle, to achieve food sovereignty.

Regarding the specific scenario of the Amazon, it was also mentioned that it is a very large region, about 8 million square kilometers distributed in nine countries that make up a connected ecosystem. This is why it is necessary to guarantee transboundary processes for managing these situations that are also focused on the different approaches, contexts and scenarios of the region. "If we are going to think about Amazonian policies, there are really several Amazonian regions. We have the piedmont region, transition region, savannahs and large jungles. So there are many different contexts that also require specific approaches," he added.

The presentation gave as an example the case of the public policies on food and nutrition for the Amazon and Vaupés, the former being approved and the latter under construction. Both are focused on the human right to adequate food and address the following needs: improving agricultural and livestock production; preserving the food culture; controlling food quality; favoring the sustainability of resources and promoting healthy habits.

The importance of understanding additional dimensions that exist from the indigenous cosmovision, such as the relationship with the territory, a concept that frames a whole and therefore includes the notions of health, was also discussed. As well as the need to be understood as socio-historical constructions of knowledge and cosmovisions.

“Food sovereignty is fundamentally achieved by retaining 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 tied together in this context,” added Pablo Montoya.