This text is part of the special International Solidarity section
The Research Chair in Law on Food Diversity and Security (DDSA) at Laval University and the Feeding Humanity Sustainably coalition will present their project for an International Convention for Sustainable Food on November 16. The fruit of nearly ten years of reflection, research and concerted actions, on the part of researchers and local and foreign actors convinced that food security is at the heart of the process aimed at achieving justice and peace in the world.
“What links our work and that of the Feeding Humanity Sustainably coalition is the realization that something is missing [dans le monde]since we are not able, although we produce enough food, to ensure the food security of our population,” reports Geneviève Parent, holder of the DDSA Chair.
Food insecurity, defined by Statistics Canada as “the inability to obtain or consume quality food, or in sufficient quantity, in a socially acceptable manner, or the uncertainty of being able to do so”, is also a concern for the Coalition. This brings together more than sixty groups and stakeholders in the country’s agri-food sector. This Convention text will be an essential tool for it which will allow it to enrich the work it carries out on issues such as the increase in the price of food or the protection of biodiversity and arable land.
The Convention notably brings together key definitions, such as those of agricultural and food diversity. Above all, the document details, in 44 pages and 50 articles, the different possible ways to stem the scourge of food insecurity.
A suggestion for reflection
The Convention notably proposes that countries “put in place incentive measures, such as tax benefits, to encourage the consumption of healthy, nutritious and sustainable foods, while discouraging the consumption of unhealthy foods […] “.
“We are also talking about more specific provisions such as land protection or the role of women in agriculture,” reveals Tom Ignacchiti, lawyer and research professional at the DDSA Chair. Because the objective is to succeed in bringing together players in the agri-food sector and leaders, in order to allow humanity to be fed sufficiently and in a healthy manner both for populations and for the environment.
“During the pandemic, certain dysfunctions in our food systems became very evident,” recalls M.me Parent, emphasizing the urgency today to adopt political and legal measures likely to ensure sustainable food security.
This reflection takes on its full meaning in a world where “if we achieve food security, we resolve several problems at the social level”, adds Marcel Groleau, former president of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) today at the head of the Coalition.
“Migration waves would be less significant and climate change less violent if we distributed production across several continents,” he maintains. As for distribution issues, they could be resolved if we produced more locally. »
This global dysfunction is also present in Quebec since nearly 15% of the province’s population was struggling with food insecurity problems in 2021, according to the Canadian Income Survey. Faced with these alarming findings, this convention aims to be a scientific tool capable of further directing research, but also of enabling the adoption of policies by governments around the world, hopes Geneviève Parent.
Filling a “legal void”
“As nature abhors a vacuum, it is often trade agreements that have taken over the international organization of agri-food systems,” notes M.me Parent. [Or, tant les gouvernements que les producteurs agricoles] told us that these trade agreements limit their ability to implement our national food security,” summarizes the researcher.
This is how all these eminent legal specialists have gone through and analyzed in great depth the multiple legislations and other existing legal frameworks in matters of food security and sovereignty.
This initiative quickly resonated with Marcel Groleau, who hopes that the Quebec model of the Feeding Humanity Sustainably coalition will be emulated and that many countries will discuss it to come to interstate agreements… failing to have the Convention adopted at a supranational level, by the United Nations, for example.
The proposed International Convention for Sustainable Food will be made public on Thursday, November 16 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Espace Quatre Cents at 100, quai Saint-André in Quebec.
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