SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN THE NEW
MILLENNIUM
Major European Conference
Friends of the Earth Europe and BUND/FoE
Germany, together with Oxfam Solidarité and
the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, held a
conference on "Sustainable Agriculture in
the New Millennium: The Impact of
Biotechnology on Developing Countries" from
May 28-31 in Brussels. The conference was
supported by several organizations, among
them FoEI. Some 250 people attended from
NGOs, international organizations, consumer
groups and governments, and also from the
scientific, academic, industrial and
financial sectors. FoEI alone had
representatives from Austria, Bangladesh,
Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador,
Europe, England, Ghana, Germany, Malaysia,
the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Togo and
Uruguay.
There were three major panel sessions --
on food, hunger and poverty, on
biotechnology and food security, and on
sustainable agriculture -- which were
interspersed with smaller discussion
groups. The conference was a good venue for
individuals from different backgrounds and
with diverse perspectives, to present their
views on biotechnology.
Major themes popping up throughout the
conference ranged from "How can we reach
common ground and work together?" to "What
are the implications of patents on genetic
engineering in the trade arena?" Other
themes included the status and usefulness
of the Biosafety Protocol, the debate on
terminator seeds, and the question of who
benefits from transgenic crops. There was
also a discussion on how to empower farmers
to produce crops sustainably without being
hindered by industry's obsession with
GMOs.
One of the meeting's most controversial
points was industry's argument that genetic
engineering will "feed the world" and "feed
the poor". Using the same arguments with
which they countered the Green Revolution,
representatives from the South exposed this
"feed the world" campaign as a blatant lie
that is being misused and abused by a
profit-hungry industry. Southern delegates
debunked the argument several times,
highlighting instances of past failure and
stressing that without land access and
stable governments, poverty and hunger will
persist with or without GMOs.
Although no common ground where diverse
points of view could meet was identified,
the conference was nonetheless successful
in bringing out the real positions of the
various sectors present. All participants
were given food for thought and the
possibility of refining and re-evaluating
their positions.
Following the conference, FoEI held a
day-long strategy meeting for Friends of
the Earth biotech campaigners. Some of the
decisions were to compile an inventory of
work going on within the FoEI network on
GMOs, to produce a starter pack for GMO
campaigning, to arrange an internal
listserve on biotech issues, to strengthen
the links between biotech campaigning and
other FoEI programmes, and to draft a
"universal declaration" on GMOs to be used
as a campaign platform for FoE groups
around the world.
Mae Ocampo
, FoEI
For further information on the
conference and on GMOs, please contact
FoE
Europe
