3rd Nyéléni Global Forum opens: Grassroots movements gather to build system change
Friends of the Earth International, along with hundreds of other social movements and organisations from all over the world, is organising the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum as a milestone for a strong and growing movement for food sovereignty, global justice and system change.
[Kandy, Sri Lanka – September 8th, 2025] — In the face of deepening hunger, and accelerating ecological breakdown, land grabbing and democratic backsliding, more than 500 grassroots delegates from around the world are gathering for the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum held in Kandy, Sri Lanka, from September 8th to 13th, 2025. The forum is a space to confront systemic injustice and build collective pathways towards a system rooted in peoples’ rights, justice and solidarity.
Friends of the Earth International is part of a strong and growing movement known as the Nyéléni process. Together, we are co-organising a critical convergence, amplifying our shared vision for system change and building a world beyond capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and fascism.
Over the coming days, the forum will define collective strategies around six pillars: Construct people’s democracy, rights, and peace; Build people’s economies; Food sovereignty and agroecology; Secure land, water, territories and agrarian reform; Achieve health for all; Achieve climate justice and energy sovereignty.
From food sovereignty to system change: What do we demand?
In the face of the multiple interconnected crises— hunger, climate collapse, inequality and genocide— it becomes clear that these issues cannot be addressed in isolation: they require transforming the systems that are the root causes.
“The crises we face are not isolated. They are rooted in the same broken system; the capitalist, imperialist, patriarchal, racist, and colonial structure that reinforces oppression and threatens our planet and peoples’ rights. At the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum, grassroots movements from all over the world are building a collective path toward system change, grounded in social, economic, environmental and gender justice, internationalist solidarity and peoples’ rights and sovereignty”
Hemantha Withanage, Friends of the Earth International Chair
In the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum, we are building a powerful counterforce against fascist regimes that threaten democracy and erase workers’ and peoples’ rights.
“Together with the grassroots movements present in Nyéléni, we promote peoples’ democracy— based on equality, internationalist solidarity, peoples’ rights, social, economic, gender and environmental justice, and peace. We are fighting to protect and expand the rights of peoples and their territories”
Wanda Olivares, Friends of the Earth International Executive Committee member
The 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum is rooted in the food sovereignty political movement. Beyond food production, it aims at creating policy spaces led by peasants, Indigenous Peoples, family farmers and artisanal food producers who have always been the first caregivers of nature and forests.
“Food sovereignty connects struggles and territories. It’s about more than food. It’s about reclaiming power and sovereignty, and claiming that food is a human right, not a commodity. Food sovereignty relies on agroecology, the fairer system to produce food, rooted in solidarity, cooperation, and justice, for a fair and sustainable food system and society”
Mariann Bassey, Food Sovereignty Program coordinator at Friends of the Earth Africa
As part of our vision for system change, we demand a just transition approach to energy policy. This is essential to ensure that the transition to renewables benefits everyone.
“We are committed to a feminist, just energy transition that empowers communities, defends energy sovereignty, and puts people’s rights and life at the centre. Together, we’re building a future where renewable energy serves everyone—especially marginalised communities—through solidarity and ecological justice”
Kirtana Chandrasekaran, Climate Justice and Energy Program Coordinator at Friends of the Earth International
In the face of global crises, the connections between our struggles are more necessary and urgent than ever. The Nyéléni process builds resistance and hope: grassroots social movements are imagining and organising for a world rooted in peoples’ rights, justice, equity, solidarity, care, and respect for life. We are building people’s power together, from the bottom up, to change the system.
Media Contact: Olivia Ronsain; olivia@foei.org; +336 222 821 08; (English, Spanish, French)
🌐 www.foei.org
Learn more about the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum: https://nyeleniglobalforum.org/
Friends of the Earth International is the world’s largest grassroots environmental federation, with member groups in 73 countries. We support people’s struggles, resist corporate power, and work for environmental, economic, social and gender justice — grounded in sovereignty, dignity, and care for the Earth.
