We are farmers, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) activists, organizers of farmers’ markets, agronomists, agroecologists, permaculture trainers, Food Sovereignty activists, civil society actors from 12 different countries the Mediterranean Basin. We are from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), Croatia, France and Spain.
Over and above the current extraordinary social and economic challenges, our societies are all confronted by the realities of climate change and increased food insecurity, and are facing situations of extreme vulnerability. At the very moment when we are confronted to these common issues, and need greater exchange, resource sharing and mutual support, the borders are closing, and the Mediterranean Basin is becoming a space of division, haunted by hundreds of thousands of refugees.
We, as committed grassroots civil society actors, and members of civil society, share the vision of the Mediterranean as a space that brings us all together. On all its shores, in our communities, we are working on a daily basis to craft new solutions based on food sovereignty and solidarity economy. Caring for and nourishing the Earth, and the humans it feeds, lies at the heart of our concerns. We continue to demonstrate on a daily basis that agroecology, implemented by family farmers and supported by committed consumers, provides more effectives answers to the environmental challenges than those promoted by agribusiness.
This meeting was an initiative taken by Urgenci* and its partners, the Association Terre & Humanisme, the Provence Community Supported Agriculture Network (Réseau des Amap de Provence) and the Network of Agroecological initiatives in Morocco (RIAM). We came together from 29th February to 2nd March in Marseilles, for the first Mediterranean meeting of local and solidarity-based food initiatives. BEDE and Réseau Semences Paysannes (the international Farmers’ Seeds network) also joined in our work. At the end of this historical meeting, we are convinced that our initiatives will contribute to strengthening peasant agriculture, its capacity to feed the cities, to recreating social cohesion at both rural-urban and urban levels and to restoring farmers’ dignity throughout the whole Mediterranean region.
In order to achieve this goal, we need to disseminate our best practices. By exchanging our field practices and knowledge, we can strengthen all those who are mobilizing, in all their diversity, to preserve peasant agriculture and build sustainable food systems. We want to build a Mediterranean network of alliances between agroecological producers and conscious consumers. We are opening a new chapter of our collective work open to contributions by all. Join us and contribute to this new collective challenge on www.urgenci.net!
You may also contact us for any question:
contact(at)urgenci.net
+33 6 87 04 49 30
Photo credit: Jean de Pena, collectif à-vif(s)
