Asia Pacific Network for Food Sovereignty (APNFS) joined hundreds of activists who gathered in Bali, Indonesia on May 2-5 during the Annual General Meeting of the Asian Development Bank and raised voices against the Bank’s role in the food crisis that hit many poor countries last year and in depriving poor people their access to water and other essential services. 

In a public dialogue, “Reclaiming our water rights, reclaiming our food sovereignty” on May 2, field studies from Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines were presented to show how ADB’s loans in irrigation, flood control and export crop promotion led to the of income and livelihood of small farmers and fishers, increased food insecurity and destroyed land and water resources. Agreeing that the ADB has done more harm than good, the forum united on calling for an end to the privatization of water and the shutting down of ADB. 

APNFS joined the Asian People’s Movement against ADB in a forum on May 3 proposing food sovereignty as a people’s alternative to the neo-liberal development model promoted by ADB and other international financial institutions that undermines food security, agrarian reform and rural development. Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API) represented APNFS in the forum.  

On May 4, APNFS also joined a march-rally around the calling for the dismantling of ADB. 

APNFS likewise joined lobby in the ADB meetings.  APNFS’s position paper, press release and a video documentary of the Bank’s Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project that submerged more than 100,600 hectares under permanent flood were submitted to the office of the ADB President. # # #