Abstract
The new constitutions of Latin America have important insights regarding the protection of agro-biodiversity, the right to food and the protection of nature. Specifically, countries like Ecuador and Bolivia, have tried to summarize and institutionalize all these ideas in the form of rules or basic principles, concepts belonging to indigenous cultural tradition, expressing the idea of harmony between self, others and the cosmos, representing the first attempts of a concrete movement. The central focus of this essay is to highlight the importance of the so-called Andean “nuevo constitucionalismo” identified by the Constitutions of Ecuador in 2008 and Bolivia in 2009 that claim the primacy of “Mother Earth”. The right to food is an inclusive right. It is not simply a right to a minimum ration of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients. Andean constitutions are ecologically oriented to guarantee respect for the right to food, i.e. the right to adequate food that refers to quantity, quality and appropriateness, considering cultural aspects, as well as the physiology of the individual.
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Notes
- 1.
Rodotà (2011).
- 2.
OHCHR (2010).
- 3.
ICESCR (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, 16 December 1966 (entered into force 3 January 1976), Art. 11(2).
- 4.
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights CESCR (1999), General Comment No. 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant). http://www.refworld.org/docid/4538838c11.html. Accessed 14 December 2015.
- 5.
OHCHR (2013).
- 6.
Cf. Knuth and Vidar (2011).
- 7.
See Pierri (2015), pp. 451–469.
- 8.
In Venezuela (1999), Ecuador (2008), and Bolivia (2009) new constitutions were adopted as a ‘Turn to the Left’ emerged and a “new Andean Constitutionalism” was born, see Schilling-Vacaflor (2011).
- 9.
See Pinstrup-Andersen (2009).
- 10.
Masset et al. (2012).
- 11.
Himley (2009), pp. 832–842.
- 12.
See Kopp (2015).
- 13.
See Lalanders (2012), pp. 163–182.
- 14.
De Schutter (2010).
- 15.
Barkin (2012), pp. 12–22.
- 16.
See UN Human Rights Council (2008).
- 17.
- 18.
In Bolivia the National Council for Food and Nutrition (CONAN) was reformed in 2006 while under the coordination of the Ministry of Health. It is supported by the leadership of the President in carrying out its mandate, which encompasses the coordination of various stakeholders involved in interventions aimed at the realization of the right to adequate food.
- 19.
The FAO Project GCP/GLO/324/NOR - Integrating the Right to Adequate Food and Good Governance in National Policies, Legislation and Institution. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/righttofood/documents/project_b/GCP-GLO-324-NOR.pdf Accessed 14 December 2015.
- 20.
See OHCHR (2015).
- 21.
Via Campesina is a transnational movement that represents peasants, small and medium-scale farmers, rural women, farm workers, and indigenous organizations that promotes food sovereignty as an alternative model for agriculture based on ethics and values in which culture and social justice ensure a future without hunger. See Desmarais (2007), p. 38.
- 22.
Peña (2013).
- 23.
Dávalos (2008).
- 24.
Lambek et al. (2014).
- 25.
Barret (2013).
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Sina, A. (2018). The Constitutional Protection of the Right to Food in Bolivia and Ecuador. In: Isoni, A., Troisi, M., Pierri, M. (eds) Food Diversity Between Rights, Duties and Autonomies. LITES - Legal Issues in Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75196-2_16
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