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The concept of '''sovereignty''' was launched in 1996 at the World Food Summit in Rome by the global farmers’ movement ‘Via Campesina’ to counter large scale agricultural production and international agricultural trade liberalization. The concept is a protest against economic and political marginalization of small holder farmers. Food sovereignty challenges the mandates of international trade law and institutions that govern food trade. Farmer and other civil society movements have declared that individuals, communities and nations should have the right to define their own agricultural, food, fishing and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances.

The “global food system” depends on local food and agricultural systems. These systems are to be based on food sovereignty, small-scale food producers, agro-biodiversity, deep ecological foundations and sustainable use of natural resources, native seeds and traditional knowledge and practices, and local markets and value chains.