A World Food Forum Captured by Corporate Interests?
New report sheds light on how corporate actors engage with the UN’s World Food Forum.
Ahead of World Food Day, FIAN International joins social movements, Indigenous Peoples’ and civil society groups, calling for an end to growing corporate influence at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
In a new report, FIAN International and Corporate Accountability shed light on the extent of this influence over the UN’s World Food Forum (WFF), taking place in Rome next week, starting on Monday, World Food Day. The report also highlights the need for a robust accountability framework for corporate actors.
The WFF is billed by the FAO director general as “the world event on food and agrifood systems issues, with a strong focus on youth, private sector partnership and investment, and science and innovation”.
However, this year the event is clearly dominated by corporate-driven narratives, the cooptation of youth participants, and an FAO drive to broker problematic public and private investment partnerships. The FAO also significantly chose to shift the dates of a major meeting of the more inclusive UN Committee on World Food Security from World Food Day, in favor of the WFF, a move which was opposed by many countries and grassroots groups.