QUEZON CITY, Philippines — More than 700 Filipinos, led by labor leaders Leody de Guzman and Atty. Luc Espiritu, gathered outside the Department of Agriculture headquarters on Quezon Elliptical Road, Quezon City, on October 21, 2024.
The protest was part of an Asia-wide mobilization calling on governments to prioritize building sustainable, climate-resilient food systems that guarantee adequate and affordable food for all.
The demonstrators highlighted the urgency of their demands, citing the worsening effects of climate change on agriculture. “Record-breaking typhoons, floods, and landslides are devastating the agricultural sector, worsening food insecurity, and costing billions in losses and damages,” the protesters emphasized.
This action in the Philippines, led by the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), coincided with the first day of the UN Committee on World Food Security’s annual plenary session. Governments at the session are set to discuss and endorse policy recommendations on global food security.
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Right to Food Guidelines, adopted in 2004 by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), aimed at ensuring access to sustainable and sufficient food.
In addition to the Philippines, APMDD-led protests took place in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
The timing of the protests was significant, as it also coincided with the Annual Meeting of the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Campaigners voiced their demand for accountability, criticizing the WB-IMF’s promotion of neoliberal economic policies that have undermined food systems across the Global South. They argue these policies have enabled corporate control over seed systems and opened up land tenure to international investors, weakening local agricultural economies.
Among the key demands raised by the protesters were the restoration of food, land, and water systems to the people, reparations for decades of harmful policies, and the cancellation of unsustainable and illegitimate debts to free up fiscal space for climate action and essential services.
In the lead-up to COP29 this November, the protesters also demanded the payment of climate finance by Global North governments as reparations for the damage inflicted on the Global South’s food, land, and water systems.
APMDD emphasized the need for substantial, public, and non-debt-creating climate finance to support adaptation strategies for food and agriculture, as governments prepare to negotiate a new climate finance goal.
“This year has been devastating for the farmers and fisherfolk who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” said APMDD regional coordinator Lidy Nacpil.
She cited the catastrophic impact of Typhoon Yagi, which in September claimed over 800 lives in Southeast Asia and resulted in $15.8 billion in economic losses.
Earlier in the year, the El Niño phenomenon caused 9.89 billion pesos in agricultural losses for the Philippines, with rice accounting for 48% of these losses. By the end of the dry season, nearly 200,000 farmers and fisherfolk were affected, requiring 8.59 billion pesos in financial aid, Nacpil added. | via The Samar Chronicle
IN PHOTOS: Filipinos call on Asian governments to build sustainable, climate-resilient food systems | PHOTOS BY LEI VENTENILLA
