The International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) was constituted on an ad hoc basis in 1996 to function as an organising committee for the NGO forum that took place parallel to the 1996 World Food Summit.
Following this, the IPC also organised the 2002 Forum for Food Sovereignty. The IPC’s current priorities and action agenda arise from a regional and global process of sustained discussions over many months prior to the 2002 Forum on Food Sovereignty.
These two fora were organised in Rome based on principles of self-organisation and autonomy. Since then, the IPC has been recognised by the FAO as its principle civil society interlocutor.
The IPC is not centralized and includes regional, thematic and constituency focal points from social movements and civil society. Nor does it claim to represent organizations attending NGO/CSO fora. The IPC acts to enable discussions among NGOs, CSOs and social movements, as well as to facilitate dialogue with FAO. The IPC will not substitute for direct relations between individual NGOs/CSOs or groups of organisations and FAO.