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New Report from ETC Group

The Greed Revolution. Mega Foundations, Agribusiness Muscle In On Public Goods

Issue # 108

Big foundations like Gates and giant agribusinesses like Syngenta are taking an interest in multilateral public institutions committed to ending hunger. The international agencies are having trouble with the “public/private” boundaries. It’s time to evaluate them all.

ETC Group dedicate this Communiqué to the memory of Dr. Erna Bennett who passed away at the beginning of January 2012. 

Cartoon by Stig www.shtig.net

Asunto: La atención que los negociadores del cambio climático le darán a la agricultura en Copenhague dependerá de los resultados de la Cumbre Mundial sobre Seguridad Alimentaria (Roma, 16 a 18 de noviembre de 2009). Los mercaderes del carbono ven más oportunidades de hacer negocio con la agricultura. Los funcionarios de la alimentación, ven mil millones de personas hambrientas (y más debido al calentamiento global). Las reuniones cumbre sobre alimentación y crisis climática encubren una batalla crítica sobre el gobierno de las instituciones globales agrícolas y de alimentos. El G8, la Secretaría General de la ONU y las agencias de alimentos con sede en Roma —la FAO (Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación), el PMA (Programa Mundial de Alimentos), el FIDA (Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola) y el (con frecuencia ignorado) CGIAR (Grupo Consultivo para la Investigación Agrícola Internacional)— luchan por el liderazgo... Read more

Grupo ETC

Boletín de prensa

Viernes 26 de febrero de 2010

www.etcgroup.org

La reunión de la FAO, sesgada a favor de las empresas, denuncia un miembro del comité asesor al presentar su renuncia

En la víspera de una importante conferencia intergubernamental sobre Biotecnologías Agrícolas en los Países en Desarrollo (ABDC), a realizarse en Guadalajara, uno de los pocos miembros de la sociedad civil dentro del comité asesor internacional presentó su renuncia, calificando los preparativos para este encuentro entre gobiernos y científicos como “irremediablemente sesgados” y que de forma cínica “soslayan aspectos socioeconómicos y científicos  claves”.

Pat Mooney, Director Ejecutivo del Grupo ETC, una organización internacional de la sociedad civil con sede en Canadá, con una larga historia de trabajo... Read more

ETC GroupNews release (revised)Friday, February 26, 2010www.etcgroup.org

FAO's Biotech Meeting Dubbed “Biased for Business” as Steering Committee Member Resigns in Protest

On the eve of a major intergovernmental conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, a civil society member of the international steering committee has resigned, calling the preparations for the gathering of governments and scientists “hopelessly biased” and “foolishly sidestepping key socioeconomic and scientific issues.”

Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group, a Canada-based international civil society organization with a long history of work with FAO and biotechnology issues, resigned from the steering committee on Tuesday, February 23. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization conference, hosted by Mexico, runs from March 1- 4 in Guadalajara.

“The overwhelming thrust of the guiding documents for the meeting are... Read more

Svalbard's Doomsday Vault: The Global Seed Vault Raises Political/Conservation Debate The swarm of media attention focusing on today's opening of the Global Seed Vault in Norway's high Arctic may overshadow an even bigger news story. Yesterday, 26 February, the Norwegian government pledged to give 0.1% of money spent on commercial seed sales to support Farmers' Rights, and challenged other governments to do the same. The critical message is that even the most secure gene bank storage is not the ultimate solution. Governments must provide support to farmers to improve local conservation and breeding, and help them obtain access to far away seed accessions. Global food security depends upon a coherent in situ (on-farm) and ex situ (gene bank) strategy. The need to support farmers' on-farm conservation and breeding work is urgent. On the occasion of the opening of the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, ETC Group releases a new Communique, "Svalbard's Doomsday Vault: The... Read more

Cuestionamientos a los negociadores de las crisis alimentaria y climática en Roma y Copenhague

La reunión intergubernamental más importante sobre las crisis alimentaria y climática de 2009 ya ha ocurrido. En octubre, mientras los negociadores del clima se peleaban en Bangkok y las agencias alimentarias de Naciones Unidas luchaban entre sí por una respuesta reestructurada a la crisis alimentaria y los planes para la Cumbre Mundial sobre la Alimentación, la Comisión sobre Recursos Genéticos de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (fao) se reunió silenciosamente en Roma para evaluar la capacidad de respuesta de la comunidad internacional para adaptar y desarrollar cultivos, ganado y recursos genéticos acuáticos y microbianos utilizados en la alimentación y la agricultura frente al cambio climático. La reunión también consideró las limitaciones políticas y empresariales que podrían impedir un cambio estratégico... Read more

The declaration coming out of the World Food Summit for Food Security in Rome is even worse than the “shameful” document adopted by world leaders in 1996, so famously criticized by Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Governments won’t promise anything to anybody. The only issue really being debated in Rome is whether control of the UN’s “Department of Agriculture” will be wrested from the UN’s Rome-based agencies and surrendered to an amorphous, G8 conjured, public-private compact called the Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition. If the Partnership prevails, national sovereignty fails, and civil society's hopes for Food Sovereignty will suffer.

Issue: The World Summit on Food Security (Rome, Nov. 16-18) is agriculture’s bid for the attention of climate change negotiators en route to Copenhagen. To carbon traders, agriculture is a money-maker.... Read more

Who Will Feed Us?

2009’s most important intergovernmental meeting on the climate and food crises has already happened. In October,  as climate negotiators were fighting in Bangkok and as the UN food agencies were jousting over a restructured  response to the food crisis and plans for the World Food Summit, the Food and Agriculture Organizations’s (FAO) Commission on Genetic Resources met quietly in Rome to review the preparedness of the international community  to adapt and develop crops, livestock, aquatic and microbial genetic resources used in food and agriculture to  address climate change. The meeting also considered the political and corporate constraints that could prevent a  major strategic shift to achieve our food security. The Rome Food Summit in November and the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December should pay attention. At stake is the answer to the most important question not being asked in... Read more