Happening in 2 hours, a regional discussion about the reality of Food in the MENA region. Hunger in the Middle East and North Africa is not a supply problem. It is a question of power. On World Food Day, the Arab Reform Initiative publishes Cultivating Sovereignty: Struggles for Food Justice in the Middle East and North Africa, a new dossier edited by Julia Choucair Vizoso and produced by ARI’s Environmental Politics Programme. MENA is the world’s most food-import-dependent region, and hunger in Arab countries was 76% higher in 2022 than in 2000. Food security asks whether there is enough food; food sovereignty asks who decides, who owns and who benefits. Drawing on ten studies and fieldwork with farmers, unions, cooperatives and civil society in Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, the dossier examines who controls land, water, seeds and imports, and who bears the cost of agricultural policy. It closes with concrete recommendations for governments, donors and civil society, from redirecting subsidies to smallholders to protecting farmers’ right to save and exchange seeds. Register: lnkd.in/ejJEmv7G @7_eead @ALKTaif #WorldFoodDay #FoodSovereignty #FoodJustice #MENA