Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology

The Nyéléni Declaration, issued during the International Forum for Agroecology in February 2015, defines agroecology as a political and social framework for food sovereignty rather than a mere set of technologies. It positions agroecology as a necessary alternative to the industrial food system, which the document claims drives climate and environmental crises. The declaration outlines core pillars—including territorial rights, collective access to the commons, and horizontal knowledge sharing—and proposes strategies to protect agroecology from corporate co-optation and 'false solutions' like climate-smart agriculture.

• The declaration defines agroecology as a comprehensive 'way of life' and a political tool for transforming power structures, explicitly rejecting the definition of agroecology as simply a collection of production practices or technologies.
• The document identifies the industrial food system as a primary driver of global crises, including climate change, deforestation, and public health issues such as obesity and diabetes, attributing these to a model that prioritizes profit over life.
• The forum warns against the 'co-optation' of agroecology by multilateral institutions and corporations, specifically rejecting terms like 'climate smart agriculture', 'sustainable-intensification', or 'ecological-intensification' as narrow technical fixes that leave power structures unchanged.
• Agroecological production is based on ecological principles such as nutrient recycling and biodiversity management, and it strictly prohibits the use of GMOs, agrotoxics, and artificial hormones.
• The declaration establishes territories, collective rights to the commons, and horizontal, peer-to-peer knowledge exchange (diálogo de saberes) as fundamental pillars of the agroecological approach.
• The document emphasizes that women and youth are essential social bases for agroecology, calling for an equal distribution of power, decision-making, and remuneration to overcome the fact that women often have less access to resources than men.
• The forum outlines a strategy to promote agroecological production through policies that secure land access for small-scale producers, protect customary rights to seeds, and implement the Tenure Guidelines of the Committee on World Food Security and FAO Small-scale Fisheries Guidelines.

APA

admin (2015). Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/declaration-of-the-international-forum-for-agroecology/

Chicago

admin. Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology. Friends of the Earth International, 2015. https://www.foei.org/declaration-of-the-international-forum-for-agroecology/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=27 February 2015 |url=https://www.foei.org/declaration-of-the-international-forum-for-agroecology/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2015declaration, author = {admin}, title = {{Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2015}, month = feb, url = {https://www.foei.org/declaration-of-the-international-forum-for-agroecology/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }