CAFOD NEWS 24/10/23 – 1 - St Michael's Tetbury and St Peter's Cirencester

Dear Mary,

We have some big news about our Fix the Food System campaign!

This past summer, over 70,000 parishioners from 762 parishes supported Salina’s letter calling on the World Bank to protect farmers’ rights to freely access their traditional seeds – this fundamental right has increasingly come under threat from restrictive seed laws pushed by the Bank.

We have just got back from the World Bank’s annual meeting in Morocco where we delivered the letters directly into the hands of the Director of Global Food Practice.
Watch the video

Mary, our message was loud and clear: we will continue to stand up against the rules that benefit big businesses selling commercial seeds at the expense of small farmers who prefer to use traditional seeds.

And our campaign is working. Following our latest actions, the World Bank has started to listen. They agreed to meet with CAFOD representatives in both London and Morocco and have started to look at the issue.

This is an important step forward in this campaign, and we want to pass on a big thanks to you.

Like everything worth fighting for, this is not an easy journey. We need to continue strengthening international solidarity and build on what we’ve achieved this year to ensure that the discussions we are now having with the World Bank lead to tangible action.

For now, though, let’s take some time to celebrate and enjoy a glimpse of what we can achieve when we work together.

Watch what we achieved

With our prayers and best wishes,Andrea and the rest of the CAFOD Campaigns Team

St Michael’s Tetbury