RIGHT TO FOOD AND NUTRITION WATCH

Moving on to the Americas, the first reading draws attention to the United
States and argues that frontline alternative approaches must push for comprehensive
and integrated food and agriculture policies to advance the right to adequate
food and nutrition. The US government must fulfill its obligations concerning the
right to food without depending on charity and by fostering local food systems. Returning
to the issue of corporate capture, the following piece on Mexico discusses
nutrition policies in the country and the influence of TNCs in defining them. It also
presents a concrete example of how organized civil society initiatives can promote
peoples’ right to adequate food and nutrition. The campaign ‘Healthier Eating as
Mexicans Eat’ serves as a successful example of promoting the consumption of
natural water and traditional Mexican food and beverages, instead of industrialized
food and soft drinks.
Lastly, in the regional section on Europe, the responses of rural communities
to land grabbing and large-scale agricultural development in Ukraine are analyzed.
Peasants tend to tolerate agribusiness expansion as the most feasible strategy to guarantee
their food production. Despite land grabs and neoliberal State policy, peasants
persist and produce half of the gross domestic agricultural output, demonstrating their
adaptability. The adjoining insight box on Ukraine discusses the liberalization of the
land market, which is being promoted without clear consensus for this development
among the local population. This liberalization would benefit the national and international
elite, together with the agroindustry, through further land concentration,
and would thus endanger the right to food principles. The closing piece addresses the
negative impact on the right to food of the austerity measures adopted by the Spanish
government. The author discusses the alternative report to the Universal Periodic
Review of Spain drafted by civil society organizations, denouncing the violation of the
right to adequate food and nutrition in the country.
It is our hope that the information presented in the Watch 2015 will provide
readers with an insight into, and awareness of, the numerous achievements in implementing
the right to adequate food and nutrition for all, the unfortunate setbacks
along the way and the substantial challenges that still lie ahead. Ultimately, we hope
that this increased awareness will strengthen and support our global movement for
attaining nutritional well-being, as well as the realization of the right to food for all.
The Watch 2015 Editorial Board
RIGHT TO FOOD AND NUTRITION WATCH 2015 12