Asian United Front on Food Sovereignty | The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature
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جبهة آسيوية موحدة حول السيادة على الغذاء

APN's president and the coordinator of the Arab Network for Food Sovereignty were invited to participate in the formation of a united Asian front of the civil society on issues of agriculture, food security, sovereignty and resources. It was held in Negombo City in Sri-Lanka in the period between the 20th and -23rd of August in 2013.

 The composition of the administrative committee representing South Asia, South East Asia, and West Asia comes as a step in coordinating their perspective within the International Committee of the Food Sovereignty, which will hold its annual meeting next November in Brazil, comprising of representatives from all social and civil society organizations from all over the world. Among the countries that participated in the meeting were India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal, Jordan and Palestine.

 The meeting included discussing the priorities that the team will work on in the coming two years, in 2014 and 2015. The priority is monitoring the implementation and realization of the principle of food sovereignty. It includes or five categories, which are 

• access to resources; 

• ecological production patterns;, 

• food governance;

• strengthening small-scale food producers;

• and work to devote the concept of food sovereignty in conditions of conflict and  occupation.

 APN volunteered to be the fulcrum in the war working group in cooperation with NAFSO which is a fishermen alliance in Sri-Lanka, the country which has suffered from civil war for the past thirty years.

In discussing the issue of responsible agricultural investment Ms. Zuayter requested to include all cases where there is an extended crisis such as war, occupation, and natural disasters before, during, and after they occur. She also introduced the importance of considering crisis situations where governments are weak and unable or unwilling to apply responsible agricultural investment to deprive investments in illegal settlements. APN stressed at the conference the necessity of institutionalized cooperation between the people of the countries of the South, especially in Asia, which is considered the cradle of many old civilizations in the world.