The Shillong Declaration

The representatives of 170 Indigenous food communities and delegates from 62 countries in Africa, the Americas, the Arctic, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific, gathered in Shillong, India, from 3-7 November 2015, to participate at the 2nd Indigenous Terra Madre Conference, agreed by consensus to 24 commitments and proposals for action, related to the protection of sustainable local food systems and food sovereignty. The declaration begins acknowledging “the fundamental and spiritual connection that people have to the Earth, and how that relationship is the foundation for the health or ill of our food system”. The declaration proposals define an encompassing set of strategies and policies aiming to food and seed sovereignty, agrobiodiversity conservation, traditional ecological knowledge and community wellbeing, clearly showing the linkages among all of them.(Summary extracted from the article)