APN | Colombia

16 – 20 June 2025

APN participated in the Global Land Forum, organized by the International Land Coalition (ILC) in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, from June 16 to 20, 2025. The forum brought together a wide range of civil society organizations and international experts working on land and food sovereignty issues.

APN Advocacy and Research Coordinator, Lisa Shahin, delivered a keynote address in a session titled “From Local to Global: Strengthening Farmers, Peasants, and Forest Dwellers’ Voices in International Environmental Agendas”. In her speech, she highlighted APN’s experience in influencing international agricultural and environmental policies and emphasized the organization’s pioneering role in framing “the weaponization of food” as a root cause of food insecurity, especially in the context of occupation and armed conflict.

Shahin also outlined APN’s key political achievements, including contributing to critical resolutions adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and leading the negotiations on behalf of civil society on the Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises, adopted by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in 2015.

She addressed the challenges facing Global South organizations in international spaces, particularly the imbalance of power in favor of Northern institutions, the double standards in policies and discourse, and the influence of donors over priorities and decisions. In response to these pressures, she shared APN’s strategies for resistance, including the founding of the Arab Network for Food Sovereignty as a platform to unify regional efforts, and the rejection of foreign funding to maintain independence and credibility.

In a dedicated session on Palestine, APN presented its work to protect land and support food sovereignty, illustrating how food is being used as a tool of control and collective punishment—especially in the Gaza Strip.

The organization also shared its experience in the Revive Gaza’s Farmland project and its critical role in combating famine and land destruction under siege.

This participation aligns with APN’s broader mission to amplify Arab issues in global platforms and defend food sovereignty as a fundamental right of peoples, not a tool for political blackmail or colonial domination.