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Food Sovereignty, a European answer to the crisis!

 

Krems – Austria – 22nd August 2011

After  5  days  of  intense,  inspired  and  constructive  exchange,  the  Nyeleni  Europe  2011,  European Forum for Food Sovereignty, closed yesterday. The Forum adopted the first European Declaration on Food Sovereignty. 

Over 400 delegates from European countries committed to strengthening their collective capacity to reclaiming  community  control  over  food  system,  to  resisting  the  agro-industrial  system  and  to expanding and consolidating a strong European movement for Food Sovereignty.  

Over 120 organisations  and  individuals,  representing  civil  society  and  social movements, discussed the  impact  of  current  European  and  global  policies.  Together they  developed  a  comprehensive platform and a set of principles  to achieve  food sovereignty  in Europe. The Forum emphasized  the contribution  of  voices  of  young  people,  woman  and  food  producers,  whose  concerns  are  often overlooked.    This diversity  and  richness of experience enabled  the Nyeleni Europe 2011  Forum  to identify  a  common  framework,  and  to  define  a  joint  action  plan  based  on  a  democratic  and participatory process. 

The Declaration proclaims, “we are convinced that a change to our food system is a first step towards a broader change in our societies”.  The Forum delegates strongly committed to taking the food system into their own hands by:

-  Working towards an ecologically sustainable and socially just model of food production and consumption based on non-industrial smallholder farming, processing and alternative distribution.

-  Decentralizing the food distribution system and shortening the chain between producers and consumers.

-  Improving working and social conditions, particularly in field of food and agriculture?

-  Democratizing decision-making on the use of the Commons and heritage (land, water, air, traditional knowledge, seeds and livestock).

-  Ensuring that public policies at all levels guarantee the vitality of rural areas, fair prices for food producers and safe, GMO-free food for all.

At this time of political volatility, social and economic crisis, the delegates of the Nyeleni Forum for Food Sovereignty reaffirmed their vision of unity that emphasized the right of all peoples to define their  own  food  and  agriculture  policies  and  systems,  without  harming  either  people  or  precious natural resources, as Food Sovereignty implies.

That’s why we demand food sovereignty in Europe now. 

 

 

 Press release  (pdf) /    Final Declaration (full text)

No patents on seeds!

 

 

The No Patents on Seeds coalition was initiated by the Berne Declaration, Greenpeace, Misereor, No Patents on Life, Swissaid and the Norwegian Development Fund. It campaigns for a clear regulation in patent law.

This initiative is supported globally by over 300 NGOs and farmers’ organisations and has collected about 100.000 signatures against patents on plants and animals.

These patents create new dependencies for farmers, breeders, food producers and consumers. These patents have to be regarded as misappropriation of basic resources in farm and food production and as general abuse of patent law. It is necessary an urgent re-think of European patent law in biotechnology and plant breeding and to support clear regulations that exclude from patentability processes for breeding, genetic material, plants and animals and food derived thereof.

Help this cause by  signing the open letter to Members of the European Parliament and the European Commissi on.

For more information on this campaign:  No Patents on Seeds

GMO FREE EUROPE 2010, BRUSSELS

 

 

GMO Free Europe 2010, Brussels, 16-18 September 2010

300 representatives from 37 countries, representing formal and informal GMO-free regions, GMO-free initiatives and activists on related issues from all over Europe. Breeders and seed exchangers, farmers, bee-keepers, gmo-free traders, processors and retailers as well as consumers, critical scientists and environmental activists have met in Brussels and Ghent from 16 to 18 September 2010.
The participants critically discussed the new GMO policy of the European Union, which was presented to them by EU Commissioner John Dalli. They welcomed the announcement of the environment minister of the Region of Brussels, that the government of the Capital of Europe has just declared itself GMO Free. The agricultural minister of Wallonia, vize-chairmen of the European Parliaments Agricultural Committee, José Bové and Janusz Wojciechowski, presidents and representatives of major farmers unions, from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, Euro-Coop and IFOAM expressed their solidarity with the GMO Free movement. The secretary general of Carrefour and representatives of the German EDEKA and tegut supermarket chains confirmed their commitment to stay GMO free and to build a reliable supply chain of non-GMO animal feed for their milk, meat and egg products. This was especially welcomed by the secretary general of the association of Brasilian GMO Free soybean producers, ABRANGE.
In the evening the conference was welcomed by the vice-major and echevin for the environment, Bertin Mampaka, in the historic City Hall of Brussels at the Grande Place.
Shocking news came from Professor Andres Carrasco, Argentina's leading embryologist, who presented newly published scientific evidence that Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the worlds best selling weedkiller "Roundup", to which about 75% of all GMOs of the world are resistant, cause serious embryonic damage.
For two days the participants then retreated to exchange information and discuss joint strategies for a GMO free Europe. 30 workshops covered a diversity of issues while the final plenary agreed to fight for a moratorium of any releases of GMOs into the environment, to both expand GMO Free Regions at national level and to demand a serious overhaul of the risk assessment procedure at European level. 

For more information, visit the conference's  website.

GENET-news of today

2012-05-16

Adopting out retired GE ’enviropigs’ a non-starter due to risks, Canadian scientist says

The fate of 16 genetically modified pigs remains undecided, but adopting them out to ”loving homes” as requested by an animal-rights group is a non-starter, the University of Guelph said Tuesday. Prof. Rich Moccia, an associate vice-president at the school, said relinquishing control of the ”enviropigs” posed unacceptable risks. [...] In a letter to Moccia Tuesday, the group called on the school to ensure the pigs would be spared. [...] ”For the same reason you wouldn’t kill 16 healthy dogs at the end of a research project, please don’t kill these poor pigs, who deserve a chance to live out their final years basking in sunshine, taking mud baths, and simply being pigs.”

2012-05-16

GM Jatropha hopes to break into biodiesel market

A Singapore partnership has developed what it hopes to be an eco-solution to the world’s demand for biofuel. The world’s first genetically modified Jatropha plant can produce biodiesel faster and better. Plans are in the pipeline to start field trials and commercialise it in three years. [...] Its developers Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory and JOil have filed a patent for this genetically modified Jatropha.

2012-05-16

Coexistence becoming more complicated in the USA

the Obama administration and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack determined the need for addressing coexistence and a 23-member committee was established in 2011. [...] the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture has been given the job of addressing the size and scope of risks to coexistence, potential compensation mechanisms for crops contaminated, tools and standards to verify eligibility for compensation and figuring losses and finally who would have to pay. [...] There isn’t much talk about the first committee’s success or failure, but it doesn’t seem much came from that committee.

2012-05-16

The dangers of GM - Europe must learn the lessons from America

American farmers are increasingly expressing regret over the planting of GM crops, which are now causing major problems, and Europe must take note before it is too late – warns campaign group. The British House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s new report on sustainable food recommends government action to tackle the United Kingdom’s unhealthy and environmentally damaging food system. In addition to important recommendations to improve healthy eating and sustainability, the report highlights the need to diversify the research agenda in food and agriculture. The committee also questions the role of genetically modified crops in the future food system.

2012-05-16

Glyphosate resistant super weeds no easy fix for US agriculture-experts

A fast-spreading plague of ”super weeds” taking over U.S. farmland will not be stopped easily, and farmers and government officials need to change existing practices if food production is to be protected, industry experts said on Thursday. ”This is a complex problem,” said weed scientist David Shaw in remarks to a national ”summit” of weed experts in Washington to come up with a plan to battle weeds that have developed resistance to herbicides. Weed resistance has spread to more than 12 million U.S. acres and primarily afflicts key agricultural areas in the U.S. Southeast and the corn and soybean growing areas of the Midwest.

2012-05-16

Dow’s new ad wants you to know: 2,4-D corn is necessary to reed the world

Monsanto’s Roundup Ready weed-killing products may continue to lose their potency in the face of a growing epidemic of Roundup-resistant weeds but, according to a new video, industrial-scale farmers need not fear: Dow AgroSciences has come to the rescue. [...] At least, that’s what Dow is selling in its promotional video, which seems to be based on the premise that the herbicide-resistance problem created by genetically modified industrial agriculture can be solved only by the introduction of an intensified breed of genetically modified products.

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