“My plea is simple — to reject the commodification of nature. Land grabs were the start of market-led colonisation; now it’s the turn of water, including oceans. The natural commons, on which depend livelihoods of tens of millions, should not be allowed to become hostage to market greed and predatory states.”
These were the opening words on Mr. Muhammad Ali Shah of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum when he – last year – delivered a statement on behalf of the WFFP to the working group of the Human Rights Council on the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.
The second session of the open working group on the peasants declaration will begin in Geneva today. Mr. Ali Shah is representing the WFFP again, and in the negotiations with ambassadors to the UN in Geneva, friends from La via Campesina and human rights researchers he will ensure that the voices and demands of the world’s fisher peoples are integrated in the declaration.
Read the full WFFP statement here: statement_peasants_declaration_nov_2014