A extinção do Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional e a agenda de alimentação e nutrição

Abstract

Food and Nutritional Security can be understood as "ensuring the rights of all people to regular and permanent access to quality food, in sufficient quantity, without compromising access to other essential needs, based on food practices that promote health and respect cultural diversity and that are environmentally, culturally, economically and socially sustainable" 1. Food and nutritional insecurity unequally affects the different social strata and is determined by economic, political, environmental and educational factors, among others 2. The complexity of this phenomenon, a crucial element of contemporary discussions around food, demands articulated and convergent policies between the relevant sectors and instances that overcome the barriers of sectoral policies 2,3. For more than two decades, Brazil has worked toward these goals. The experience that best exemplifies these efforts is the construction of the Food and Nutritional Security System (SISAN) 4. According to the Food and Nutritional Security Law (LOSAN) 5 , this system's governance structure included, as central elements, the National Food Security Conference, the National Food and Nutritional Security Council (CONSEA) and the Inter-ministry Food and Nutritional Security Chamber (CAISAN) 1,5. CONSEA, an advisory body to the Presidency (http://www4.planalto.gov.br/consea), was tasked with presenting proposals and exercising social control over the design, execution and monitoring of food and nutritional security policies. One third of its members were representatives of different Executive branch agencies and the remaining two thirds were civil society representatives. It brought together representatives of movements and organizations from different social sectors and was an important space in which often-sidelined rights-holders had a voice and could influence public policies. Its inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary composition was one of its strengths. An important civil society achievement after redemocratization in Brazil and an example for other countries, CONSEA was a space for dialogue, articulation, mutual learning and concertation between government and society. In addition to its federal-level role alongisde the Executive branch, it also established a dialogue with the Legislative and Judiciary branches and with states and municipalities, through the state and municipal CONSEAs. It took part in strategic agendas, such as: including the right to food in the Federal Constitution; defending the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples and quilombola communities; strengthening food crops, in consonance with Brazilian biomes and ecosys

School feeding in Covid-19 times: mapping of public policy execution strategies by state administration

“…To the detriment of the political, technical and operational advances that PNAE has undergone in recent years, especially since 2009, we ought to highlight the weakening that food and nutrition public policies as a whole have suffered in the last five years. It is worth mentioning the extinction of the Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (CONSEA, National Council for Food and Nutritional Security) and the gradual dismantling of the FNS National Policy (FNSNP), following the reduction of financial resources and the population coverage of the programs [24][25][26][27][28].…”

Reflections on the extinction of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security and the confrontation of Covid-19 in Brazil

“…During the first half of 2019, state and municipal councils for SAN, national and international entities, and distinct groups and collectives of the civil society expressed their opposition to the MP 870. Several organizations came together in defense of the CONSEA and the DHANA in various manifestations like public hearings, motions, and the organization of "Banquetaços" -a public activity that resulted in the distribution of more than 20 thousand meals in more than 40 cities [4].…”

“…Thus, reflections on the impacts of the CONSEA's extinction are urgent. If its extinction occurs at a critical moment for the Brazilian population, such a problem is exacerbated by the current crisis that requires urgent measures of social protection, which include the guarantee of SAN and the monitoring of indicators sensitive to living conditions, such as child mortality, unemployment, and inequality of income, gender, and race [4].…”

“…The Brazilian pre-pandemic scenario showed an accelerated increase in poverty and extreme poverty, as well as of the homeless population and the informality of work (which already struck 41.1% of the workforce in 2019), accompanied by setbacks in indicators that are sensitive to the worsening economic and social situation, such as child mortality, and income and race inequality [3,4]. With an increased unemployment rate of 12.9% in the first quarter of the pandemic -the lowest level of employees since the beginning of the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílio (PNAD, National Household Sample Survey) -, social isolation measures have had a strong impact on the work and income of the Brazilian population, which are deeply related with food and nutritional insecurity [5,6].…”

“…This, in turn, leads to a further expansion of inequalities, food insecurity, and to the violation of the human right to food. Emergency actions to guarantee SAN have been identified as urgent during the health crisis, demanding immediate state intervention in order to ensure income security, job protection, emergency food supply, and articulation of local governments in protecting the food system in the short, medium, and long terms [4,9].…”