Thursday, October 22, 2009

Thank you from PAN AP

Dear Conference participants, speakers and guests,

Greetings of solidarity!

From September 27th to 29th 2009 PAN AP hosted the Asia Pacific Conference on Confronting the Food Crisis and Climate Change. Together with all the PAN AP partners, we would like to express our gratitude for your participation and for joining us in building solidarity to contend against the crises and advance people`s struggles and alternatives.

It was a meaningful and fruitful gathering attended by 113 conferees from 22 countries representing peasants, small farmers, agricultural workers, women, indigenous peoples, fisherfolks and health, environmental and consumers civil society organizations. Some even had to brave the wrath of tropical storm Ketsana in order to be with us.

The Conference served as a platform to sharpen analysis on the pressing issues of climate change and the food crisis. Throughout the event, panel discussions and workshops were held to discuss the threats and challenges posed by the crises and to advance people’s resistance and alternatives.


Issues and recommendations which emanated from the plenaries and workshops were consolidated into a Plan of Action covering areas of policy advocacy, awareness-building, campaigning and network-building, research and documentation and capacity-building and adaptive strategies.

The Conference culminated with a Unity Statement that declared our commitment to claim people’s right to food, to work together in regenerating nature and society and to further strengthen and consolidate people’s movements in advancing food sovereignty, gender justice and climate justice. The gathering bore the stamp of our colorful hand prints that depicted the diversity of grassroots alternatives and the solidarity of movements.

In the sidelines of the Conference, participants engaged in meetings and conversations, mounted exhibits and showcased cultural presentations that added color to the gathering and a warm atmosphere for solidarity work.

Indeed we can say that the Conference was a big success, thanks to your valuable participation as conferees, workshop organizers, speakers, exhibitors and performers.

We appreciate all of your comments and suggestions and we welcome additional feedback from other participants who have not yet shared theirs.

We also invite you to visit http://www.panap.net/ which features the Powerpoint presentations, photos, videos and other pertinent references.

Please also anticipate the consolidated Conference documentation. We shall provide you a copy as soon as it becomes available.

The Conference may have ended but our paths will cross again as we continue to advance the people’s struggles, the people’s alternatives.


In solidarity,


Sarojeni V. Rengam
Executive Director
Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific

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