400 participants from 70 countries in the world celebrate today in the UPV the Global Forum on Access to Land

The mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, stressed at the opening ceremony that “there are resources enough” and demands to “invest in improving the distribution”

 · Francisco Mora, rector of UPV, highlights the leading position that the university holds on rural development

· Ramesh Chandra Sharma, representative of farmer organizations in Asia (Ekta Parishad), complains about the violation of laws by the World Bank

· There was a special memento to remember the Honduran FMAT farmer activist Berta Caceres, recently murdered

 Making an assessment of the process of land grabbing worldwide, establishing a diagnosis of the current situation and finally making proposals for the future in order to influence the agenda of governments. These are the objectives of the World Forum on Access to Land and Natural Resources (FMAT 2016) which has been inaugurated this morning in the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain. This event has counted with the participation of the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig; the mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó; the dean of the UPV, Francisco Mora; and the president of the International Committee of Organization FMAT, Vicent Garcés; Besides representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Ministry of Rural Development of Brazil and peasant organizations in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Acces to press release (spanish version)
31/03/2016