Food sovereignty remains one of AEFJN’s core priorities, promoted especially through the Our Land is Our Life (OLOL) campaign, the current flagship initiative of AEFJN. The OLOL project underscores the importance of agroecology and sustainable land management, advocating for African solutions that promote food security and protect land rights. This campaign has effectively collaborated with grassroots organizations and African governments, drawing attention to the threats posed by land grabbing, monocultures, and agrofuels.

AEFJN’s advocacy has also made an impact within EU agricultural policy debates, where the network lobbied for the recognition of African interests in shaping agricultural models that prioritize food sovereignty over corporate profits. Agroecology, biodiversity, and sustainable land practices have become cornerstones of AEFJN’s efforts, particularly in regions where vulnerable communities have been marginalized by external pressures and foreign interests.

The Our Land is Our Life campaign also includes initiatives such as the pilot project in Adjumani, Uganda, which is among the stories documented in this section. The project in Adjumani serves as a model for similar initiatives across Africa, highlighting the importance of local empowerment in advancing food sovereignty. AEFJN’s work in Uganda showcases the potential for grassroots involvement to yield tangible benefits in promoting food security and land justice.

As part of the Rome Forum of Catholic-inspired NGOs, AEFJN issued a manifesto calling for urgent global action to eradicate hunger and poverty. The manifesto urges the international community, civil society, governments, and private sector actors to prioritize sustainable and inclusive food systems. Key demands include creating a World Fund to eliminate hunger by redirecting military expenditures, fulfilling the commitment to allocate 0.7% of national income to development aid by 2030, and supporting local and indigenous communities in building resilient food systems. The manifesto echoes Pope Francis’ 2024 call to address the “scandalous plague” of hunger and emphasizes the need for solidarity and justice globally.

The theme of land rights has also committed AEFJN to addressing the adverse effects of a purported “green agenda.” For example, in Tanzania, a government conservancy project in the Ngorongoro and Loliondo areas has led to the forced eviction of the Maasai from their ancestral land. AEFJN is part of the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA), a transnational solidarity network that empowers the Maasai to defend their land, livelihoods, and cultural identity. By combining grassroots advocacy, legal action, and international diplomacy, MISA works to shift the tide in favor of Indigenous rights and sustainable, inclusive conservation. The launch of the Maasai Conservation Vision marks a landmark step toward centering Indigenous knowledge and autonomy in environmental policy-making. The key objectives of MISA are: stopping forced evictions and land grabbing in Loliondo and Ngorongoro; ensuring legal recognition of Maasai land rights and access to ancestral land; promoting Indigenous-led conservation in opposition to “fortress” models that exclude local people; and amplifying grassroots voices in international policymaking, including at EU institutions.

At a time when the energy and digital transition is gathering pace, so-called “critical” minerals—such as lithium, cobalt, rare earths, and nickel—are becoming key strategic resources. These minerals, essential to the energy transition and the digital economy, are the focus of a frantic global race. In this tense context, the absence of binding international standards poses major challenges in terms of sustainability, respect for human rights, and economic justice. There is currently no specific international treaty governing the extraction, trade, and sustainability of critical minerals. Existing rules are fragmented, and national legislation is unevenly applied. This situation creates regulatory competition between states, often to the detriment of social and environmental standards. Mining companies thus continue to perpetuate a predatory extractivist model, often associated with severe socio-environmental impacts: deforestation, water pollution, forced displacement, violations of workers’ rights, and even the financing of armed conflicts in certain regions.

The absence of a binding framework paves the way for illegal exploitation, corruption, violations of workers’ rights, environmental destruction, and the financing of armed conflict. AEFJN has therefore joined the movement calling for the adoption of an international treaty in the mining sector, which has become both a strategic and an ethical necessity.

The stories presented in this section illustrate three further reasons for hope:

  1. The immense agricultural potential present in Africa, which can be harnessed sustainably thanks also to the appreciation of Indigenous knowledge systems.
  2. Evidence that it is possible to advocate successfully for land rights, even in a global context where “might is right” often prevails.
  3. The use of food security projects as entry points to land rights advocacy, which sets the stage for a more collaborative rather than confrontational approach: public authorities are more willing to listen to people’s claims when communities first demonstrate the effectiveness of their solutions for the common good.