Pimbert, Michel. “Local Organizations at the Heart of Food Sovereignty.” Chap. 4 in Towards Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming Autonomous Food Systems. London: IIED, 2009.
The second part of this e-book provides empirical evidence about the importance of local organizations for sustaining food systems, livelihoods, and the environment. Specific examples highlight some of the many practical ways in which local, autonomous organizations manage and oversee different links in the food chain—from seed to plate. The roles of local organizations in sustaining diverse food systems, livelihoods and landscapes; in producing knowledge and innovations; and in designing regulatory institutions as well as influencing policies and institutional choices are then briefly analyzed. Noticeably, several local organizations with different functions, powers and responsibilities are usually needed to coordinate different activities within food systems and their wider environment. Such “nested organizations” operate at different scales and act in complementary ways. These interlinked organizations provide the institutional landscape that is needed to manage dynamic complexity in the social and ecological realms in which food systems are embedded. This web of interacting organizations provides the basis for decentralized governance and autonomous systems. The evidence presented here thus suggests that the widespread implementation of “food sovereignty” partly depends on strengthening such local organizations and the larger federations they form.
(text by Michel Pimbert)