Civil society joins the FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean

Representatives of ten civil society organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean met FAO Director-General  during the Regional Conference this week in Santiago de Chile, to discuss about civil society contributions to South-South Cooperation, climate change,  land access and food sovereignty.

The representative from the Latin American Agro-ecological Movement (MAELA, in Spanish), highlighted the Regional Conference as a formal space for the dialogue and  the positioning of civil society before the Goverments of the region, more specifically, of the small-scale food producers of the region.

Graziano da Silva stressed the importance of deepening the dialogue between civil society and Governments as a way to achieve that its concerns  “ do not be only an element of the discussion, but become also national public policies”.

Salgado referred to the FAO Strategy for Partnerships with Civil Society Oganizations, stressing that  shows a clear commitment with the small-scale food producers in the construction process of the agriculture and food governance.  “ Civil society will be able to include its demands in this process, demands such as agro-ecology and food ssovereignty”.

This meeting followed a civil society consultation which was held also in Santigo, Chile, on the 4th and 5th of May. During this consultation, more than 50 representatives from civil society organizations from the region discussed their contributions to the Regional Conference, chosing  three spokesperson who will present the conclusions of the consultation to the Conference.