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