Nyéléni: Sowing the seeds of change

From food sovereignty and agroecology to systemic change

The Third Nyéléni Global Forum, held in Kandy, Sri Lanka, from September 6th to 13th 2025, aims to be more than just another meeting of the world’s social movements fighting for systemic change, with food sovereignty and agroecology as the driving forces behind this historic moment. 

Looking ahead, “we identified the need to mobilise together and collectively in our territories, but in a coordinated manner on a Global Nyéléni Day for the struggle to transform the system and for system change,” said Martín Drago, Coordinator of Friends of the Earth International’s Food Sovereignty programme, at the end of the Third Nyéléni Global Forum. “We also agreed to have joint political formation processes, working on political formation from a paradigm of popular feminism, anti-racism, popular education and intersectionality,” he added.

Nyéléni, which is the continuation of a process that had its first two editions in Mali in 2007 and 2015, is critical to understanding our past, taking action in the present and building a better future through convergence across movements. It is convergence; it is analysis, but it is also common agendas, action and mobilisation.

The peasant organisations that have led the movement for food sovereignty, together with all the diverse global organisations that have accompanied this struggle since the end of the last century, had the political clarity to establish that the third edition of Nyéléni should focus on systemic change.

The understanding is clear: you cannot confront the food system controlled by agribusiness without fighting capitalism and the dominance of transnational corporations, without dismantling patriarchy, racism, colonialism and imperialism, fascism, and all systems of oppression. A system of multiple forms of oppression is confronted with a common popular agenda which, without dismissing differences, focuses on the strength of unity.

Milestones of the Third Nyéléni Global Forum

The Forum was the result of years of coordination and work by a global and national steering committee, both involving numerous social movements and organisations. The work carried out in Sri Lanka was key.

Prior to the start of the Third Nyéléni Global Forum, three preliminary assemblies were held, focusing on women, diversity and youth.

The Women’s Assembly was a space in which the role of peasant women and feminism in transforming the system was vindicated. Anuka De Silva, from the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform in Sri Lanka (MONLAR), part of La Vía Campesina, and also a member of the Forum’s national steering committee, opened the assembly, stating: “Sri Lanka’s economy is driven by women, but no one recognises this. On farms, it is women who do the hard work without receiving a good wage. Similarly, women in textile factories live in very difficult conditions, without decent wages, without a life. There is a lot of violence in industrial areas. Among domestic workers, many women migrate to the Middle East to work as domestic servants.”

Meanwhile, at the Diversity Assembly, Paula Gioia, from La Vía Campesina and the Global Steering Committee of the Nyéléni Forum, stated: “We are experiencing a historical moment. It’s the first time that within the Nyéléni convergence, we have a space for the gender and sexual diversities and allies to meet. This is historical and cannot be taken for granted. This is the result of years of struggles in our territories and within our movements. It’s the result of a long process of formation, awareness raising, solidarity building, and  empowerment and emancipation of peoples who have been historically marginalised, or subjected to violence in their territories as well as discrimination in the movements.”

During the Forum, there was a convergence of communications from social movements (in which Friends of the Earth International and our Real World Radio participated), which was responsible for recording everything that happened in various production formats. One of the highlights was the live radio broadcast, which aired twice a day with interviews and various guests.

One of the most important and emotional moments was the march and action carried out in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the genocide in Gaza. At the end of the action, the co-coordinator of the Climate Justice and Energy programme of Friends of the Earth International, Kirtana Chandrasekaran, was interviewed by Real World Radio.

“Our first demand is that all the governments should use all economic and political powers at their disposal to end the genocide, starting with a military and energy blockade and an embargo on Israel. We also demand that they stop using food as a weapon of war and allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” said Chandrasekaran, long before the ceasefire was agreed upon just days ago.

In addition, Chandrasekaran called for “fighting together against corporate climate criminals like Chevron, which is the biggest gas provider to Israel.” She added: “We demand that the ruling of the International Court of Justice, which declares that the occupation is illegal and a humanitarian crime, be respected.”

The common agenda for the future

Looking ahead, nearly 1,000 people from every continent, representing peasant movements, Indigenous Peoples, fishers, pastoralists, workers, feminist movements, environmentalists, migrants, consumers, researchers and others, agreed on a series of actions and campaigns.

Some of the actions, in addition to the Annual Nyéléni Day and political training highlighted by Drago, will be: a Global day of mobilisation against imperialism, wars, conflicts, genocide and the use of hunger and the destruction of health infrastructure as weapons of war; assemblies of social movements and Indigenous Peoples; and a General strike for the visibility of the centrality of care and the rights of caregivers.

In terms of campaigns, the following stand out: one to combat exclusion and amplify the power of migrants; one for an international framework for trade based on food sovereignty; another against the hoarding of resources (land, water, seeds, animal genetic resources, territories), for the recovery of those territories and for a popular and comprehensive agrarian reform; and one against impunity and the power of transnational corporations.

At the end of the forum, on September 13th, the various social movements and organisations issued a joint statement highlighting a solid, people-centred political agenda for systemic change. The commitments in the statement reflect the interconnectedness of struggles for justice and promote proposals from territories and grassroots communities.

Mariann Bassey, one of the directors of Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria, who also represented Friends of the Earth Africa and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa at the Nyéléni Forum, said: “We are calling on our governments. Please, after this meeting, take your time and go through the decisions, all the videos, the statements, and do right by our people. It should be people over corporate power. It should be people over profits. That is what we are saying. And if they do that, I tell you, this world will be a better place.”

See more in this summary piece from Real World Radio.