PRESENTATION AND CONTEXT OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING
Presentation and context of the international meeting
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n recent decades, owing to the impact of both globalization and decentralization, the governments of cities and urban areas have become increasingly powerful political actors. Since the 1990s they have mobilized to implement environmental policies that reflect a greater level of commitment than their national governments’ (Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, the Aalborg Commitments, etc.). As a result, alliances have emerged that enable them to have a joint impact on national and international policies (Metropolis, UCLG, ICLEI, ORU Fogar, etc.). The food system, previously driven primarily by national and international policies, has since the agricultural price crisis of 2008 also emerged as a local policy issue. This is reflected in recent statements by city collectives advocating the implementation of local policies to promote a more sustainable food system (2013 Bonn Declaration of Mayors; 2015 ICLEI Seoul Declaration; 2015 Milan Urban Food Policy Pact). In that way, urban governments are seeking to address the sustainability challenges generated by the dominant industrial food system and exacerbated by growing urbanization, which amplifies distancing and concentration phenomena. Aware of the resources available to them (knowledge concentration, financial means, public authorities, biomass, labour force, citizen initiatives, infrastructure, services and markets), they are conducting experiments and building food policies aimed at both ensuring food security for the population (urban as well as rural) and improving the sustainability of the food system by focusing on its environmental, social and economic impacts. Studies are beginning to be done on urban food policies, especially in cities of industrialized and emerging countries where policy making and formalization is longest established and most advanced (Toronto, Bristol, Belo Horizonte). Initiatives such as these are also becoming more common in developing countries in a variety of contexts.
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