food commons. a disruptive narrative and moral compass for human survival

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JOSE LUIS VIVERO POL PhD Research Fellow in Food Governance

FOOD COMMONS A disruptive narrative and moral compass for human survival

Dialogue on Food as a CommonsInternational University College Torino, 25 March 2017

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Consideration of food as commodity is social construct that can / shall be

reconceived

WHY?Foto: Finabocci Blue Flickr Creative Commons

Paradigm Shift

Food system is the greatest driver of Earth transformation

• Food systems accounts for 48% of land use• 70% of water use • 33% of total GHG emissions • 40% relies on agriculture for their livelihood • Phosphorus & Nitrogen exceeded Planetary

Boundaries

(Ivanova et al., 2015, Clapp, 2012)

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157 million chronically malnourished

19 million severely wasted children

HUNGER is largest contributor (35%) to child mortality

1.4 BILLION OVERWEIGHT(300 MILLION OBESE)

2.3 BILLION MALNOURISHED PEOPLE – WE EAT BADLY

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Food System Paradoxes FOOD PRODUCERS STAY HUNGRY800 million hungry people, or more (SPI 2013) 70% are food producers  FOOD KILLS PEOPLE Food-related diseases are a primary cause of death (6.5 M deaths per year).  FOOD IS (INCREASINGLY) NOT FOR HUMANS 47% of food for human consumption,  FOOD IS WASTED 1.3 billion tons end up in the garbage every year (1/3 of global food production) enough to feed 600 million hungry people.

Foto: Fringe Hoj Flickr Creative Commons

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The actual way of producing & eating

(western diets & industrial food system)

is unsustainableIt cannot be maintained

for the next 50 years IAASTD (2008)

UNEP (2009)

UNCTAD (2013)UK Foresight (2011)

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Commons are material / non-material resources, jointly developed and maintained by a community/society and shared according to community-defined rules, irrespective of their mode of production (private, public or commons-based means), because they benefit everyone and are fundamental to society’s wellbeing

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Economic Epistemology on Commons: reductionist + theoretical + ontological

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AIR

WATER

FOOD

SUNLIGHT

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The six food dimensions relevant to humans: multi-dimensional food as commons VS mono-dimensional food as commodity

Source: Vivero-Pol (in press). http://www.preprints.org/manuscript/201701.0073/v1

Food as a commodity mono-dimensional approach whereby economic dimension of food prevails and overshadows non-economic dimensions.

Price (value-in-exchange)

12Photo: Dean Hochman, Flickr

Food as a commons means revalorising different dimensions relevant to human beings (value-in use) & reducing the commodity dimension (value-in exchange)

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Food commons are what a society does collectively, through private, state and self-regulated provision, to guarantee everybody eats adequately in quantity and quality everyday

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Food is essential for human life…

… so access to food cannot be exclusively determined by the purchasing power

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Planetary Boundaries

Climate Change

Oil Peak

Radical changeUK GovIAASTD

Business as usualIncrease productivityImprove access

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The TRANSITION towards a fairer & more sustainable food system needs a different narrative

Recognizing & valuing the multiple dimensions of food = FOOD AS A COMMONS

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Food as a new old commons (innovative + historic)

Sustainable agricultural practices (agro-ecology) Open-source knowledge (creative commons licenses) Polycentric governance (states, enterprises, civic actions)

Social MarketEnterprisesSupply-demand Food as private good

Public

Private

Not f

or p

rofitForm

alFo

r pro

fitInform

al

Collective actionsCommunitiesReciprocityFood as common good

Partner StateRedistribution Citizens welfareFood as public good

Tri-centric Governance of Food Commons

Systems

Incentives, subsidies, Enabling legal frameworks

Limiting privatization of commons

Farmers as civil servantsBanning food speculation

Minimum free food for all citizens

Local purchaseRights-based Food

banks

To guarantee school meals for all

students in public schools

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Compulsory rooftop greening for every new building (with edibles, non-edibles)

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Establishing bakeries where every citizen can get access to a bread loaf every day (if needed or willing to)

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Set target for food provisioning in 2030 (Food Council)

• 60% private sector• 25% self-production (collective

actions) • 15% state-provisioning (public

buildings, destitute people, unemployed families) through Universal Food Coverage 

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TERRITORIES OF COMMONS

Food, heritage, nature, climate mitigation,

democracy

Water Tribunal of Valencia Huertas One of the oldest juridical institutions in Europe (Valencia, Spain)

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Universita Agraria Medieval institution to govern collective lands (Sacrofano, Italy)

Allemansrätten (Everyman’s right)(you can walk, run, hike, camp, swim, pick berries or mushrooms anywhere)Scandinavian countries

Source: https://somethingswedish.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/allemansratten-and-mushroom-picking/

Croft lands Customary land management, agro-ecology, food production, nature stewardship (Scotland, UK)

http://www.crofting.org/aboutus

Baldios Communal forest, pasturelands, water reservoirs, cultural heritage (Portugal)

http://municipio.mondimdebasto.pt

Montes Veciñais en man comúnIntergenerational sustainability, collective values, renewable energy (Galicia, Spain)

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/carballo/corcubion/2016/04/13/pleitos-montes-comunales-comarca-acumulan-anos-espera/0003_201604C13C1991.htm

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Territories of Commons

5% of Europe (12 M Ha of utilised agricultural area)

More in coastal and forested areas

9% France

25% of Galicia is onwed in communal property

Not just private-state duopoly

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2014: CAP (40% of EU Budget) 52 Billion EUR

2013 CAP Reform: No single mention to commons (water, territories, land, seeds, food, knowledge)

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Considering FOOD as a COMMONS may be utopical…But is the right thing to do and the best goal to aspire

Eduardo Galeano Uruguayan writer and activist

“Utopia lies at the horizon.When I draw nearer by two steps,it retreats two steps.No matter how far I go, I can never reach it.What, then, is the purpose of utopia?It is to cause us to advance.”

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I am eager to exchange on food as a commons

Many uncertainties & gaps remain to be developed in a common way combining praxis with normative

social constructs

@joselviveropol

http://hambreyderechoshumanos.blogspot.com

http://hungerpolitics.wordpress.com

Jose Luis Vivero Pol

joseluisvivero@gmail.com