Corporate Hijack of Sustainable Agriculture Backfired

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4 Feb 2005 22:40:28 -0000

 

Corporate Hijack of Sustainable Agriculture Backfired

press-release

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society Science Society

Sustainability http://www.i-sis.org.uk

 

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press-release ISIS Director m.w.ho

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Corporate Hijack of Sustainable Agriculture Backfired to

Moratorium on GMOs

 

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Dr. Mae-Wan Ho tells how an attempted corporate takeover of

the World Conservation Union turned into a moratorium on

GMOs

 

I first heard the term `ecoagriculture' used by a Chinese

scientist on Australia's Radio National to describe an

approach combining the best that modern science has to

offer, i.e., genetic modification of plants, with

traditional sustainable agriculture.

 

A few days later, a motion to promote ecoagriculture

appeared on the agenda of the upcoming 3 rd IUCN (World

Conservation Union) World Conservation Congress in Bangkok,

Thailand, (17-25 November 2004). Angry critics had described

ecoagriculture as " an organic agriculture that is very

friendly to agribusiness " . A protest letter from civil

society participants at a recent ecoagriculture conference

organised by IUCN in Nairobi maintained that,

" ecoagriculture is fundamentally incompatible with food

sovereignty " and hence unacceptable.

 

Suddenly, it seems, agribusiness is taking over `sustainable

agriculture' in a big way. Biotech giants Syngenta (as

Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture) and

BayerCropscience, together with Croplife International, a

global network representing the plant science industry, and

another agribusiness, Sustainable Agriculture Initiative,

have become members of `Ecoagriculture Partners', a

consortium that includes 12 non-government organizations -

among the listed were, IUCN, Rainforest Alliance,

Stakeholder Forum for our Common Future and World

Association of Soil and Water Conservation - 9 research and

education organisations - among them, International Centre

for Tropical Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture and

Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support

Programme and M.W. Swaminathan Foundation - and 4 inter-

government organizations, among which, the United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP).It transpired later at the IUCN

conference that the IUCN Council had not authorized joining

up to the Ecoagriculture Partners consortium, and it was

therefore declared invalid.

 

The Ecoagriculture Partners define `ecoagriculture' as

" sustainable agriculture and associated natural resource

management systems that embrace and simultaneously enhance

productivity, rural livelihoods, ecosystem services and

biodiversity. "

 

The `Nairobi Declaration', made by participants at the

recent conference in Nairobi, Kenya, similarly, called for

" a framework that seeks to simultaneously achieve improved

livelihoods, conservation of biodiversity (genetic

resources, ecosystem services and wild flora and fauna), and

sustainable production at a landscape scale " ; and to ensure

" that large-scale development and adoption of

ecoagriculture contribute to achieving the Millennium

Development Goals on hunger, poverty alleviation, gender

equality, environmental sustainability and partnerships, and

enhance implementation of global environmental conventions

by all nations. "

 

As I was invited to attend the IUCN conference as a delegate

of the Ecological Society of the Philippines, I alerted my

hosts, Javier and Antonio Claparols, on this corporate

takeover of sustainable agriculture; and circulated a paper

from Prof. Miguel Altieri (see next article), which explains

why ecoagriculture is miles away from agroecology that can

truly deliver food security and sustainability, alleviate

poverty and enhance biodiversity. It turned out that Miguel

had already informed Dr. Taghi Farvar, who chaired the

Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy of

IUCN. The group completely demolished the ecoagriculture

motion in a contact group meeting prior to the plenary.

 

But at the plenary, the ecoagriculture motion returned

unexpectedly in another guise. There were some cliff-hanging

moments when we thought it would get voted in by deception.

Fortunately, it was again soundly defeated, thanks to

delegates from Cenesta, Wilderness Society, Sierra Club,

Green Line and many others who spoke eloquently against it.

 

The plenary voted overwhelmingly, instead, for a moratorium

on further environmental releases of GMOs " until this can be

demonstrated to be safe for biodiversity, human and animal

health beyond reasonable doubt " . This resolution for a

moratorium on GMOs by the biggest conservation union on

earth was highly significant and widely reported in the

popular media.

 

The motion was sponsored by the Ecological Society of the

Philippines and cosponsored by The Environmental Foundation,

Sri-Lanka; Center for Sustainable Development, Bangladesh;

Wilderness Society, Australia; the Tibet Justice Center,

USA; Zdruznie Narodnch Dnych Parkov a Chranenyeh Uzemi

Slovenska, Slovenska Ekologicka Spolocnoest, DAPHNE-Institut

Aplikovanej-Ekologie, and Statna Ochrna Prirody Slovenskej

Republiky, Slovakia; Denmarks-Natuerfredningsforening,

Denmark; and Al-khat Al Akhdar (Green Line Association),

Lebanon.

 

It goes to show what critical, timely scientific information

can achieve.

 

 

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press-release ISIS Director m.w.ho

 

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