Nourish, who is supporting Glasgow and Edinburgh in their work to become sustainable food cities, welcomes the joint pledge of the two city councils on food poverty. The pledge was issued on 27 February by the leaders of Edinburgh and Glasgow City Councils who are committed to eradicating poverty in the cities in all its forms. The leaders pledged to work to ensure that all citizens have access to sustainable, nutritious food as a matter of course, not as a result of charity.
They believe that:
- Access to food is a basic human right.
- Insufficient food is a symptom of poverty.
- Food banks are a crisis response and will not solve the problem of food poverty.
- Food waste is not an effective or socially just solution to food poverty.
They pledge to:
- Continue to work alongside those with lived experience of poverty to identify solutions.
- Encourage the Scottish and UK governments to work in partnership with local government, communities and the third sector to tackle food poverty and develop a plan to tackle its causes.
- Endorse the recommendations of the Church Action on Poverty report Food, Fuel, Finance and the findings of Glasgow’s Poverty Leadership Panel.