08 September 2025, KANDY, SRI LANKA
The 3rd Nyeleni Global Forum, one of the world’s largest and most diverse gatherings of grassroots movements, officially opened today at the National Institute of Co-Operative Development in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Over the next five days, more than 700 delegates from over 100 countries will converge to build a unified, grassroots-led political vision and action plan to address the intersecting global crises of our time.
Bringing together peasants, Indigenous Peoples, fisherfolk, pastoralists, workers, feminist movements, environmentalists, migrants, urban food insecure, consumer groups, researchers, health activists, and artists, the Forum stands as a global platform of resistance and solidarity, grounded in the principles of food sovereignty, grassroots feminism, agroecology, social, gender and climate justice , peoples’ and energy sovereignty, and economic democracy.
This third edition follows the historic Nyeleni Forums in Mali (2007 and 2015) and seeks to build momentum towards a collective vision of systemic transformation—from the grassroots, for the planet, and for future generations.
At the core of the forum lie six essential themes, each interconnected and poised to spark important conversations.
Discussions will focus on how to construct and defend people’s democracy and rights in the face of rising authoritarianism, media manipulation, and violent repression. Central to this is the assertion of international solidarity and the protection of human rights, particularly for those resisting war, occupation, and systemic violence. Equally prominent are debates around building people’s economies—through feminist, cooperative, and care-centred models that challenge neoliberalism and prioritise tax justice, debt cancellation, and public control of essential services. Economic alternatives built on principles of solidarity, internationalism, and sovereign equity are also expected to be debated as part of the grassroots response to the global crisis.
Food sovereignty and agroecology—longstanding pillars of the Nyéléni process—remain central too. Emphasis will be on the need to protect peasant seeds, resist corporate control of agriculture and fisheries, and restore agroecological farming, fishing and pastoral practices rooted in Indigenous knowledge, culture and local autonomy.
With land grabs and extractive projects accelerating globally, the forum will also be providing space to debate inclusive land governance and integral agrarian reform that affirms Indigenous and community rights to commons and territories.
Healthcare, understood as an essential public service and right, will also be a key point on the agenda. The forum will be calling for universal, community-led healthcare systems and the decommodification of medicine, food, and nature itself. This focus is closely linked to broader concerns about corporate capture and structural inequality in global health systems.
Climate justice and energy sovereignty, meanwhile, have emerged as urgent priorities too. The global movements are pushing back against false climate solutions and market-based fixes, demanding ‘real solutions’ led by frontline communities, with public, democratic control over renewable energy systems.
The forum continues until 13 September, with declarations and action plans expected to emerge in the final days.
For media queries, please reach out to press@foodsovereignty.org
Download the press kit here
Nyeleni Linktree: https://linktr.ee/nyeleni2025
Photo database: Please feel free to illustrate your interviews with the official pictures of the event, available on our Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/nyeleniforum
About Nyéléni
This 3rd edition follows the historic Nyeleni Forums in Mali (2007 and 2015) and seeks to build momentum towards a collective vision of systemic transformation—from the grassroots, for the planet, and for future generations.
Read more about the history of our movement: https://nyeleniglobalforum.org/