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ETC Group and our allies in Germany, India and South Africa reported on an Indo-German research expedition, codenamed LOHAFEX, which was about to breach the global moratorium on ocean fertilisation established through the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).(2) The LOHAFEX researchers plan to spread 6 tonnes of iron sulphate (in earlier statements, they said they had 20 tonnes of iron sulphate)(3) over a 300 square kilometre patch of ocean, in order to spur phytoplankton growth. This "ocean fertilization" experiment is just one example of proposed technologies to intentionally alter the climate, known collectively as geo-engineering. By targeting the high seas, the LOHAFEX researchers are clearly breaching the terms of the CBD moratorium.(4)

ETC Group released a 48-page report, "Who Owns Nature?" on corporate concentration in commercial food, farming, health and the strategic push to commodify the planet's remaining natural resources.

In a world where market research is becoming increasingly proprietary and pricey, ETC Group's report names names, discloses market share and provides top 10 industry rankings up and down the corporate food chain. Not all the corporations identified in ETC Group's new report are household names, but collectively they control a staggering share of the commercial products found on industrial farms, in our refrigerators and medicine cabinets.

Stalled at the eleventh hour by three isolated countries that are attempting to block consensus, most of the world’s environment ministries and others are on the brink of reaching agreement on a worldwide moratorium on commercial ocean fertilization – controversial proposals to dump nutrients in the ocean to artificially alter the climate. The three blocking countries, Australia, China and Brazil have spent several days manipulating the process to avoid discussion and prevent progress, much to the exasperation of delegates and observers. The clock runs out on negotiations at 6pm today (30. May 2008).

Un informe publicado hoy (13 Mayo 2008) por el Grupo ETC, organización internacional de la sociedad civil con sede en Canadá, revela que las mayores empresas globales de semillas y agroquímicos están acumulando centenares de patentes monopólicas sobre genes de plantas, que luego pretenden comercializar como cultivos modificados genéticamente para resistir presiones ambientales asociadas con el cambio climático –por ejemplo sequía, calor, frío, inundaciones, suelos salinos, y otras. El informe del Grupo ETC advierte que más que una solución para enfrentar el cambio climático, la promesa de los llamados “cultivos resistentes al clima” (“climate-ready”) se utilizará para llevar a agricultores y gobiernos a aceptar definitivamente los transgénicos y las patentes que éstos implican.