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Convention on Biological Diversity
1.La Via Campesina mobilises
2.Safeguard Own Economic Interests, Africa Urged

1.La Via Campesina mobilises during the Convention on Biodiversity Conference in Bonn
La Via Campesina, 6 May 2008
http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/2008/05/7010.shtml

An international farmers delegation of La Via Campesina will mobilise in Bonn, Germany, during the 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Biosecurity (MOP4) and the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, COP9). Farmers leaders from Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia join actions, conferences and debates with the Coalition AktionsbundnisCOP9.

An international farmers delegation of La Via Campesina will mobilise in Bonn, Germany, during the 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Biosecurity (MOP4) and the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, COP9). Farmers leaders from Latin America, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia join actions, conferences and debates with the Coalition AktionsbundnisCOP9.

Farmers will demand that governments radically reassess the policies that are wiping out biodiversity and rural communities across the planet. They will also denounce the false solutions GMOs, agrofuels and forest monocultures, “carbon sinks”, which, far from resolving the current problems, only make the situation worse by marginalizing small producers even more. For millenia small-scale farmers have conserved and renewed plant and animal biodiversity. Peasants and small farmers, women and men, are now asking for their role to be recognised. They are convinced that sustainable family farming and local food production can solve the current food and environmental crisis.

- 13 May Press conference: "Sustainable family farming creates biodiversity and cools down the earth! Via campesina presents its position and activities towards CBD conference"
10 am -11 am, CBD media center (time and venue to be confirmed)

- 17 May: Action against gene technology and patents on crops (morning) by AktionsbundnisCOP9 (with participation of Via Campesina)

- 18 May: Agrofuel action day - Street action: Large scale cultivation of fuel crops destroys food supplies by AktionsbundnisCOP9 with participation of Via Campesina. (Full day)

- 19 May: Demonstration La Via Campesina + allies in front of the CBD entrance (morning)
Press conference: "Food sovereignty and sustainable family farming to solve food and environmental crisis"
11 am - 12 am, CBD media center (time and venue to be confirmed)
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2.Africa: Safeguard Own Economic Interests, Africa Urged
Sifelani Tsiko
The Herald (Harare), 6 May 2008
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805060678.html

AFRICA must safeguard its economic and social interest at the forthcoming ninth Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Bio-diversity and ensure that industrialised countries in the North do not sideline its concerns on agriculture, food security and agricultural bio-diversity conservation.

Participants to a three-day regional consultative workshop on preparations for the COP9-CBD scheduled to be held in Bonn, Germany (May 19 - 30) said African negotiators must take a firm stand particularly on issues related to the global agro-fuels production push, biosafety, farmers rights, emerging technologies and climate change.

These issues, the participants said, have serious implications on food security, agricultural bio-diversity conservation and sustainable use of the continent's biological resources.

The regional workshop, which was held recently in Darwendale, was organised by the Community Technology Development Trust to discuss critical issues affecting the continent's agro-bio-diversity and make recommendations to state parties and civil society going to COP9/MOP4 of the CBD.

"The main objective of this workshop is to deliberate and formulate positions on some of the critical issues that will be coming up for discussion during the COP9 such as agro-fuels production, biosafety, farmers rights, climate change, emerging technologies and access to and benefit sharing mechanism of genetic resources," said Mr Andrew Mushita, an agronomist and director of CTDT.

"We hope this workshop will enable us to critically analyse and make recommendations into issues affecting agro-bio-diversity within the country and also contribute to Zimbabwe and indeed other African member-states position at COP9/MOP4."

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity is the first global agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of all components of bio-diversity including plant genetic resources and species.

Governments from different parts of the world first signed the agreement at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

The CBD is made up of 188 national governments and one regional economic bloc.

The main objective of the CBD is the conservation of bio-diversity, the sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

COP7 was held in Kualar Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2004 while COP8 was held in Curitiba, Brazil, in March 2006.

"We need to influence our delegates to take the right positions. We should know the delegates before hand and influence them to take our concerns on board to the negotiations," said Mr Patrick Kasasa, an agronomist and Africa region programme co-ordinator of the Community Bio-diversity Development and Conservation Africa.

He said Zimbabwe is a signatory to the convention and is required among other issues to integrate bio-diversity protection into relevant policies and programmes, identify and monitor activities that harm bio-diversity and protect bio-diversity through a range of measures to ensure sustainable use.

Prof Carol Thompson, a visiting political economist from the University of Arizona in the US, said African countries should reject the growing push for agro-fuels production arguing that it will lead to loss of land, food security and sovereignty and perpetuate a model of industrial agriculture that is not environmentally sustainable.

"The science behind agro-fuels is as controversial as the science behind genetically modified organisms. They (industrial North) have started calling Africa the "Green Opec of Africa," she said.

"Agro-fuels pose a huge threat to smallholder farmers. Land use in Africa will be firmly under foreign control and this will be for foreign consumption and not for Africa. This is something that needs serious discussion."

She said the push by the industrial North for agro-fuels would lead to the extensive growing of food crops for fuel leading to food insecurity, poverty and hunger.

"The impact of agro-fuels will be huge, the practice of monoculture will destroy bio-diversity, the growing of agro-fuel crops will open the way for the bulldozing of GM crops and trade agreements will be used as weapons of control. Labour will be subordinate to the whims of large and powerful conglomerates," Prof Thompson said.

She added that: "It's not about market issues, but profit. The single goal is profit, not sustainable and efficient use of resources. It is certainly not about people. Africa should not give land back to foreign control."

Lovemore Simwanda of Zambia echoed similar sentiments.

"Agro-fuels are a big threat to land ownership in Africa. It's really worrying that governments in the region are pushing people to grow jatropha without analysing the impact of agro-fuels on land use and the resultant rise in food prices."

"People are being pushed to sacrifice their land to plant jatropha.

"It's really worrying and people will lose their land to multinationals who want their agenda to succeed by all means necessary," said another delegate from Malawi.

Added Mr Mushita: "Its (agro-fuels agenda) perpetuating the same kind of development agenda. We are responding to the agenda of the North.

"We have so much solar here but we can't invest on solar energy development. African land will be used for cheap production. Our policymakers are running with agro-fuels issue driven by the North and I don't know why they can't see that this will not serve the interest of Africa in anyway."
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