La Via Campesina
La Via Campesina, the global peasant movement that first put food sovereignty on the world stage, comprises 182 local and national organizations in 81 countries, representing about 200 million small-scale food producers worldwide.
Founded in 1993, La Via Campesina is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, landless workers, Indigenous People, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth from around the world. Built on a solid sense of unity and solidarity, it defends peasant agriculture for food sovereignty, defined as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods and their right to define their food and agriculture systems.”
La Via Campesina insists that diverse, peasant-driven agroecological modes of production, based on centuries of experience and accumulated evidence, are central to guaranteeing healthy food to everyone while remaining in harmony with nature. To achieve food sovereignty, La Via Campesina mobilizes and advocates for agrarian reform in peasant territories and provides training on agroecological production methods. This global coalition is also a platform for its members worldwide to communicate and carry out joint solidarity actions, mobilizations, and campaigns in defense of land, water, seeds, and forests.
Over the last three decades, La Via Campesina has successfully fought for a seat at the table in a variety of global policy spaces. A highlight of this work is the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2018, following 17 years of negotiations patiently led by La Via Campesina and its allies. This Declaration is among the essential international instruments that defend the rights of small-scale food producers and is a crucial tool in the implementation of food sovereignty.
