This event is now merged with CADTM and will be held in Annapurna Balmiki campus - 1.

In this side-event, church and community leaders as well as experts from climate-vulnerable countries will share lived experiences and case studies on the intersections between external debt and climate change. They will bring proposals for responding to the debt crisis as well as financing climate change adaptation and resilience-building. The session will highlight the moral imperative to tackle the debt-climate nexus, prevent needless human suffering and promote planetary restoration. 

Statement of the WSF 2024 Side Event “Debt crisis, Food sovereignty and climate change”

The WSF 2024 Side Event “Debt crisis, Food sovereignty and climate change” focused on the intersections of the global economic system and it´s vicious cycle of loans and debts by some corporations, countries, and international banks as well as the interrelatedness of debt and it´s consequences for peasants, the population and food security. All of them are exacerbated even further by the ever-increasing consequences of the climate crisis.

The signing organisations of this statement come forth with the demands to

1. One of the core reasons for the suffering of people worldwide is the existence of illegitimate debts, and conditions of loans which create neo-colonial dependencies. Thus, we demand the cancellation of all illegitimate debts, for example by means of a debt jubilee,[1] and a system which puts at the first the interests of people, not of profit.
2. The increasing dependency for seeds and crops of a few corporations and their power to regulate and control farmers and the traditionally used crops and ways of cultivating them, endangers the food security and food sovereignty of millions of people. Often, Free Trade Agreements (FTA) aggravate the dependency of states with dire consequences particularly for small-scale farmers. Thus, we demand to strengthen all attempts to keep the diversity of crops, the freedom of using them, and the preservation of nature, cultures and identities.
3. The most affected by climate change are marginalised communities, women and children, and the poor. Thus, we demand to foster the importance of and the space for women and their rights, among others to own land, the rights of children of a safe and healthy environment, and to assure and guarantee the right to live for everyone.
4. The current economic, political, and socio-cultural system is based on greed, inequality and  exploitation. Thus, we need to change the system, work against corruption, and end neo-colonialist approaches and their respective ways to enslave countries and people.
5. To work together for a new, inclusive, life-affirming system we need to form coalitions across national, ethnic, race, geographic, etc. boundaries to create a global movement and work towards those urgently needed changes – reminded by the WSF 2024 theme “Another World is Possible.”

Signatures

• AASAMAN Nepal
• Action Aid Association, India
• Al Bawsala Tunisia
• Alliance for Integrated Development, Nepal (Aid Nepal)
• Altergen Tunisia
• Asangathit Kamgar Sangathan, Bihar (AKKS)
• Attac France
• Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS)
• Bread for the World, Germany
• Centre for Agro Ecology Development, Nepal (CAED)
• Center for Grassroots Organizing, USA
• Campaign to Abolish the Illegitimate Debt (CADTM)
• Change Action Nepal (CAN)
• Committee for the Respect of Freedom and Human Rights in Tunesia (CRLDHT)
• CWISH, India
• CYDA, India
• Debt for Climate, Tunisia
• Democratic Budget Movement (DBM), Bangladesh
• Fédération des tunisiens citoyens des deux rives, Tunisia
• Federation of Women with Disabilities, Nepal (FWDN)
• Good Shepherd International Foundation Nepal
• Grameena Mahila Okkuta (GMO), India
• Gudder Inda Asnati
• HEAR Nepal
• India Greens Party
• International Alliance of Inhabitants
• Jagriti Child and Youth Nepal
• Kenyan Peasants League (KPL)
• Marawaba Labour Union
• Montfort Social Institute (MSI), India
• Nepal Beekeeping Cooperative Federation
• Nepal Boccia Association for the Disabled (NBAD)
• Nepal Disabled Women Association (NDWA)
• NGO Federation of Nepal
• NOMAD 08, Tunisia
• Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee
• People´s World Commission on Drought and Flood, Sweden
• Peoples Courage International, USA
• Pusat Komas, Malaysia
• Shristi Foundation Nepal
• Social Protection Civil Society Network (SPCSN), Nepal
• South India Alliance for Poverty Eradication
• Synodical Board of Social Sciences, Church of North India (CNISBSS)
• The Swallows India Bangladesh, Sweden
• Third Eye Local Knowledge and Activists group, Sri Lanka
• Van Gujjar Tribal Yuya Sanghathan, India
• We for Change, Nepal
• Women Forum for Women, Nepal
• World Communion of Reformed Churches, Germany (WCRC)
• World Council of Churches, Switzerland (WCC)
• Youth Advocacy Nepal (YAN)
• Youth for Climate, India
• Youth Pioneer Organisation, Morocco