Category Archives: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

France: Interview with a young farmer

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An interview for CPNN by Kiki Chauvin

I made the following interview with Armand G., 18 years old, who wants to become a farmer on a small scale. His plans are against the trend towards the disappearance of small farms in France. Between 1970 and 2010, according to INSEE, the average size of farms in France has increased from 21 to 55 hectares. But in the same period, the number of farms has dropped from 1,600.000 to 510,000!

Armand

Question: Why do you prefer to create a small rather than a large farm on the current models?

“I was born into a family of farmers and I am immersed in this universe since childhood. The animals are familiar to me; they became my friends and accomplices. The large farms, large structures do not interest me. I’m looking to create a small farm rehabilitating a simple and healthy lifestyle by developing the artisanal side of farming. I hope to raise goats, and also have some cows. I would like to make cheese and sell it in the markets, offering good farm products. It would be nice to enjoy a high quality of life while rediscovering traditional manufacturing methods, old, for me and for the people who consume my products. I do not think ‘get rich’ but a living while respecting the environment and nature in general. I want to create a farm of human dimensions. ”

Question: Do you have contact with others who think like you?

 “I had the opportunity to travel to the USA; I had the chance to visit some farms. The size of some farms, including herds of thousands of animals, shocked me and strengthened my desire to have a small operation! In these industrial farms, the animal is only a commodity that pays. However, I also had the pleasure of meeting people from small farms of only a few hectares (with goats, cows and sheep) where there is not at all the same spirit. There is more contact, friendliness, humanity; they speak of the pleasure found in their work! As breeders they are close to their animals, they have more time to devote to the herd, which creates a shared trust and which facilitates quality work. They combine their work with the manufacture of diversified products (cheese, yoghurt, butter, weaving, tailoring and handicrafts).

“One can work alone every day, but in this new mindset one rediscovers mutual aid and solidarity.

“It is the difference between the spirit of local markets and the world of supermarkets and name brands!

“In France, I use Facebook as a link with other breeders from different regions who give me advice as I learn my trade. So far i have two goats and three young kids. ”

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(Click here for a version of this article in French)

Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

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Question: What are the consequences of the state subsidies paid to large farms?

“The subsidies are paid in proportion to the size of the operation, which means that a large farm will get the most, while the small farmer, the person who needs it most, will have nothing!

“When the big enterprise gets financial aid, it is more likely to invest in equipment that is more ‘efficient’, tending beyond mechanization to robotization. All this develops a different relation between the quality of work and the quality of production! What matters is competition and profit.

“At the same time, the farmer becomes hostage to big brands, such as Danone, Senoble …, and plant protection products such as those of Monsanto.

“In conclusion, I am convinced that we can return to a real quality of work in the operation of a small farm with simple values. For me, I see a future in the breeding of goats with a return to respect for the earth. I became aware of the danger of robotics; I think we need to remain at the level of mechanization that serves to relieve and brings comfort to the daily work of farming which is very physical. As I have said, we need to return to an agriculture on a more human scale.”

Europe, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Anti-GMO protesters march against Monsanto in Burkina Faso

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from SPY Ghana

Thousands of activists of the collective citizenship for agro-ecology, of which many Europeans, took to the streets on Saturday [May 23] at Ouagadougou to demonstrate against genetically modified organism (GMO) and the specialized GMO distribution multinational company, Monsanto.

Burkhina

Dressed in red knitting on which one can read “yes to my health, no to Monsanto” and “out Monsanto”, the demonstrators gathered at the Place of the Nation and carried out about 1.5 kilometers march to submit a declaration to Burkina Faso transition authorities.

Burkina Faso economy is largely based on agriculture. The country started in 2009 large scale production of transgenic cotton with the assistance of Monsanto. Since then Burkina Faso extended the practice to food crops such as sorghum, cowpea, potato and onion.

According to Ablasse Compaore of Interzone Association for Rural Development (AIDMR), it is a protest day of farmers against their exploitation that is operated through GMO creation.
“GMOs are means to take away the self-sufficiency of peasants”, he said.

“After the political revolution, we need ecological revolution”, Ablasse Compaore said, alluding to the resignation in October 2014 of the President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore amid popular upheaval.

According to Robert Ouedraogo, official of the ministry responsible of agriculture who received the declaration, it is a “legal march” and a “legal expression of opinion”. “I can assure that this declaration will be handled, in a timely manner, to whoever it concerns. It will be considered with great care”, Mr. Ouedraogo said.

(Note: for photos from other manifestations on May 23 against Monsanto in France, Canada, South Korea, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Holland, Puerto Rico and Chile, as well as Burkhina Faso, see France 24

(Click here for a version of this article in French)

Question for this article:
Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Seed laws that criminalise farmers: resistance and fightback

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from Grain (abridged)

Seeds are under attack everywhere. Under corporate pressure, laws in many countries increasingly put limitations on what farmers can do with their seeds and with the seeds they buy. Seed saving, a thousand-year-old practice which forms the basis of farming, is fast becoming criminalised. What can we do about this? . . .

seedsClick on photo to enlarge
“No to seed privatisation… For a better world!” – Demonstration in Guatemala in defence of biodiversity and against control of seeds by industrial agriculture. (Photo: Raúl Zamora)

Social movements worldwide, especially peasant farmers organisations, have resisted and mobilised to prevent such laws being passed. In many parts of the world, the resistance continues and can even count some victories. To strengthen this movement, it is very important that as many people as possible, especially in the villages and rural communities that are most affected, understand these laws, their impacts and objectives, as well as the capacity of social movements to replace them with laws that protect peasants’ rights.

Today’s seed laws promoted by the industry are characterised by the following:

a) They are constantly evolving and becoming more aggressive. Through new waves of political and economic pressure – especially through so-called free trade agreements, bilateral investment treaties and regional integration initiatives – all the ‘soft’ forms of ownership rights over seeds were hardened and continue to be made more restrictive at a faster pace. Seed laws and plant variety rights are being revised again and again to adapt to the new demands of the seed and biotechnology industry.

b) Laws that grant property rights over seeds have been reinforced by other regulations that are supposed to ensure seed quality, market transparency, prevention of counterfeits, etc. These regulations include seed certification, marketing and sanitary rules. By means of these regulations, it becomes mandatory, for instance, for farmers to purchase or use only commercial seeds tailored for industrial farming. Or the regulations make it a crime to give seeds to your son or exchange them with a neighbour. As a result, seed fairs and exchanges – a growing form of resistance to control over seeds – are becoming illegal in more and more countries.

c) In strengthening privatisation, these laws have been disregarding basic principles of justice and freedom and directly violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These seed laws have imposed the rule that anyone accused of not respecting property rights over seeds is assumed to be guilty, thus violating the principle that people are innocent until proven guilty. In some cases, measures can be taken against accused wrongdoers without their being informed of the charges. These seed laws are even making it an obligation to report alleged transgressors; they are legalising searches and seizures of seeds on grounds of mere suspicion (even without a warrant) and allowing private agencies to conduct such checks.

d) These laws are being drafted in vague, incomprehensible and contradictory language, leaving much room for interpretation. In most cases, the laws are being moved through legislative chambers in secrecy or by means of international agreements that cannot be debated nationally or locally. . .

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

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Experience shows that people do not want these laws, once the misinformation and secrecy used to push the laws through have been countered by information campaigns and mobilisation on the part of social organisations. Most people reject the idea that a company can take ownership of a plant variety and prohibit farmers from reproducing their seeds. They find it completely absurd. People also generally do not agree that the work that farmers do to feed the world should suddenly become a crime. Wherever resistance has been strong enough, the legal plunder embodied in these laws has been stopped. . .

Africa:

Ghana: students and trade unions join farmers to oppose a restrictive seed law

Mozambique: farmers resist by developing local seed systems

Niger: farmers’ victory against the piracy of a local onion

The Americas

Brazil: large-scale development of creole seeds

Chile: victory against the privatisation of seeds

Colombia: mass protests for farmers’ seeds and food sovereignty

Costa Rica: major mobilisations make UPOV a household name

Mexico: people struggle against GM maize

Venezuela: a bottom-up law to defend farmers’ seeds

Asia

India: defending seeds sovereignty

Filipino farmers continue to mobilise and protest, vowing that they will go on opposing the advance of GMOs.

South Korea: women farmers campaign for native seeds

Thailand: resisting free trade agreements in order to protect local seeds

Europe

Austria: fighting for legislation in favour of biodiversity and farmers’ rights

France: Associations and small enterprises working together have enabled several thousand French farmers to stop using industrial seeds for many of their crops. They have initiated ‘peasant seed houses’ where communities select, reproduce, and preserve peasant seeds collectively.

Germany: a victory for the defence of farm-based seeds and a campaign to save the “Linda” potato

Greece: the crisis brings peasant seeds back to the fields

Italy: Farmers are organising in direct production and consumption networks and gardening collectives. One of their goals is not to become dependent on the seed industry. Their seeds are exchanged locally through large yearly exchanges

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

MITEI Releases Report on The Future of Solar Energy

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

an article by Melissa Abraham, MITEI [Energy Initiative of Massachusetts Institute of Technology]

Solar energy holds the best potential for meeting humanity’s future long-term energy needs while cutting greenhouse gas emissions – but to realize this potential will require increased emphasis on developing lower-cost technologies and more effective deployment policy, says a comprehensive new study on The Future of Solar Energy released by The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI).

solar
Click on image to enlarge
© Earth Policy Institute/Bloomberg

“Our objective has been to assess solar energy’s current and potential competitive position and to identify changes in US government policies that could more efficiently and effectively support its massive deployment over the long-term, which we view as necessary,” said Robert Armstrong, Director, MITEI.

The study’s chair, Richard Schmalensee, Howard W. Johnson Professor of Economics and Management Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management, added “What the study shows is that our focus needs to shift toward new technologies and policies that have the potential to make solar a compelling economic option.”

The study group is presenting its findings to lawmakers and senior administration officials in Washington, D.C.

The Future of Solar Energy reflects on the technical, commercial and policy dimensions of solar energy today and makes recommendations to policymakers regarding more effective federal and state support for research and development, technology demonstration, and solar deployment.

Among its major themes is the need to prepare our electricity systems, both technically and from a regulatory standpoint, for very large-scale deployment of solar generation – which tends to vary unpredictably throughout the day. To this end, the study emphasizes the need for federal research and development support to advance low-cost, large-scale electricity storage technologies.

The analysis finds that today’s federal and state subsidy programs designed to encourage investment in solar systems should be reconsidered, to increase their cost-effectiveness, with greater emphasis on rewarding production of solar energy.

The group also recommends that state renewable portfolio standards, which are designed to increase generation of electricity from renewable resources, be brought under a unified national program that would reduce the cost of meeting set mandates by allowing unrestricted interstate trading of credits.

The study concludes by pointing to the urgent need for an ambitious and innovative approach to technology development, with federal research and development investment focused on new technologies and systems with the potential to deliver transformative system cost reductions.

The MIT “Future of…” studies are a series of multidisciplinary reports that examine the role various energy sources could play in meeting future energy demand under carbon dioxide emissions constraints. These comprehensive reports are written by multidisciplinary teams of MIT researchers. The research is informed by a distinguished external advisory committee.

For more information or a downloadable copy of The Future of Solar Energy study, click here.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Question for this article:
global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

African First Ladies elects Koroma as Patience Jonathan’s successor

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY .

an article from PM News of Nigeria

The African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), on Friday in Abuja, elected Mrs Sia Nyama Koroma, the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone as its new President. The election was held at the emergency 8th summit of the organisation.

Koroma
Sia Nyama Koroma

Mrs Koroma, who was represented by Prof. Khadija Hamdi, the First Lady of the Saharawi Democratic Republic, pledged to ensure improved living conditions for the women and children of Africa.

The outgoing President of the Mission, Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, while handing over to the new president, said she would continue to render her support to the organisation.

She then handed over the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the land belonging to the organisation located in Abuja and the two bank accounts operated by Mission.

Mrs Jonathan commended the Mission for being in the vanguard of protecting the rights of women and children on the continent.

She explained that under her leadership, the organisation was guided by its objectives, including building the culture of peace and development in Africa.

She said that the Mission had offered support and services to victims of conflict and had used appropriate mechanisms and institutions to protect women and children in armed conflict countries.

According to her, the countries include Mali, Kenya, Guinea Bissau and the Saharawi Democratic Republic.

In his goodwill message, Prof. Nicholas Ada, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs I, lauded the achievements of the Mission under Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

Recalling the euphoria that heralded the establishment of the organisation in 1995, Ada said it had justified its existence.

He said that the organisation had rendered assistance to people, especially women and children in conflict areas.

The minister urged the new AFLPM president to improve on the achievements of her predecessor and thanked the other first ladies for their contributions and support to Mrs Jonathan.

NAN reports that the AFLPM is an umbrella body of wives of African heads of state and governments .

It has the mandate to play a support role to the AU, regional organisations and national governments in fostering peace and mitigating conflicts on the continent.

Question for this article:

Can the women of Africa lead the continent to peace?

This question pertains to the following articles:

South Sudanese women take the lead in local peace building
Women take ownership of Great Lakes peace efforts
Les Femmes de Mali S'engagent pour la Paix
The Women of Mali Engage for Peace
Meet the Tanzanian Woman Who Said No to a Forced Marriage
International Women´s Day: Interview With Leymah Gbowee (Liberia)
Announcing: Women of Congo Speak Out!
Samba-Panza’s election represents a bright future for African women in politics
Nobel Women wrap up delegation to eastern Congo
Towards the creation of a network of women for a culture of peace in Africa
Meet Carine Novi Safari, Democratic Republic of Congo
Esther Abimiku Ibanga, Founder and president of The Women Without Walls Initiative to receive the Niwano Peace Prize
African Women's Journal: African Women in Power/Politics

Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Smallholder farmers in focus as UN Rome agencies event zeroes in on financing

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture – SDG2 [Second Sustainable Development Goal of United Nations] – will require commitment and action at the national level, supported by engagement from the international community. That was the main message from a side event held in New York on 17 April on the margins of the Second drafting session of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3).

sdg2

The panel discussion, organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – the Rome-based agencies of the United Nations, brought together multiple voices to explore the policies and investments needed to successfully implement SDG2 of the July 2014 proposal of the intergovernmental Open Working Group (OWG) of the UN General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The event took place immediately ahead of a joint session (20-24 April) of the Financing for Development process and UNGA intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda, and less than three months before the FfD summit which takes place in Addis Ababa between 13 and 16 July.

Identifying investments that go beyond business as usual, financing mechanisms from a global partnership perspective and the challenges countries will face in financing SDG2 as an integrated package stood out among lively exchanges between panellists and participants from member states, civil society, the private sector and research institutions in the discussion chaired by Tekeda Alemu, Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations.

“With the SDGs we have raised the level of ambition,” said keynote speaker George Wilfred Talbot, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Guyana to the United Nations, beginning his address. “I think it is absolutely imperative that we find the ways and means of addressing this challenge. Why? Because [hunger] is depriving hundreds of millions of people from the opportunity to fulfil their potential and to contribute to the progress of humanity.”

Mr Talbot, who is co-facilitator of the Financing for Development negotiations, said he and his colleague – Geir Pedersen, Permanent Representative of Norway – had flagged the SDG2 area as one requiring “special attention” in the process.

“In addressing the challenge of hunger and food insecurity, we are contributing to the potential for achieving other goals,” he said. “It is critical to poverty, as more than 75 percent of the poor live in rural areas and are heavily dependent on agriculture.

“One of the challenges we face is to transform the agriculture sector to make it viable and sustainable. We need to get youth to see a future in agriculture.”  

The relationship between SDG2 and other goals was picked up on by Susan Eckey, Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations, who focused on biodiversity, resilience, fisheries and gender equality.

“Agricultural biodiversity is critical to ensure the stability, resilience, nutrition and continuing evolution of farming and thus long-term food security and livelihoods for small-scale farmers,” she said.

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Question for this article:

Can UN agencies help eradicate poverty in the world?

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Guy Evers, Deputy Director of FAO’s Investment Centre, stated that the fight to eliminate poverty and hunger would be won or lost in rural areas.

“Despite significant rural to urban migration, extreme poverty is becoming more concentrated in rural areas, where there are lower levels of public and private investments, poorer infrastructure and fewer services targeted to the most vulnerable,” he said. “Growth in agriculture is more effective in reducing poverty than growth in other sectors. We need more and better investment in agriculture.”

FAO, he revealed, is updating a report that will include calculations of the level of investment needed to support the required expansion in food production for ending hunger by 2030.

While pointing out the importance of scaling up best practices, Josefina Stubbs, IFAD Associate Vice-President, highlighted the value of focusing on smallholders, who represent the biggest investors in agriculture. “Most of the food that people are consuming around the world comes from smallholder farms,” she said. “They are not the problem, but part of the solution. We see the need of smallholder farmers to have access to markets and to have access to credit.”

Amir Abdulla, WFP Deputy Executive Director, outlined the common vision the three Rome-based agencies share in “working together towards eliminating the root causes of hunger, poverty and malnutrition”.

“We stand united in the discussions and consultations that are going on around the means that are necessary to realise the new agenda,” he said before drawing attention to a Think-Piece contribution by the Rome-based agencies entitled Food Security, Nutrition, and Sustainable Agriculture at Centre Stage on the Road to the Addis Ababa Conference that had been circulated among the audience ahead of the event.

The Addis outcome is expected to have a significant bearing on means of implementation for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which will be adopted at a Summit at Heads of State and Government level between 25 and 27 September 2015.

(Thank you to the Good News Agency for pointing out this article to us.)

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, United Nations,

Interview with Vandana Shiva: Why small farms are key to feeding the world

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Anand Chandrasekhar, Swiss Info

Between 1990 and 2009 the number of small farms in Switzerland halved and the average farm size doubled. With family farming chosen as the theme for this year’s World Food Day, leading activist Vandana Shiva is calling for more support to small farmers.

shiva
Photo Source: https://vimeo.com/103764529 (Becket films: http://vandanashivamovie.com/ – screenshot)

Shiva is an “earth democracy” activist and founder of the India-based NGO Navdanya, which works to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming. According to Shiva, Switzerland’s attempts at food self-sufficiency could show an alternative way for farming.

swissinfo.ch: Swiss farms are getting fewer and larger. How can Switzerland become more self-reliant and still retain the family-farm model that is an important part of the cultural identity of the country?

Vandana Shiva: The reasons farms are becoming fewer and larger is a highly twisted economy that punishes small farmers and rewards industrial agriculture. One reward is the $400 billion in global subsidies for large-scale farms. The other reward is that every step of law-making, such as regulations concerning standardisation of food, retail chains, and intellectual property laws, puts a huge burden on small farmers.

For 10,000 years small farmers have done the job. Why only in this century has small farming become unviable? It is because the trade-driven, corporate-driven economic model for agriculture has been designed for large-scale farming. It has been designed to wipe out small farms. Around 70% of the food eaten globally today is produced by small farms. Small farms produce more and yet there is mythology that large scale farming is the answer to hunger.

We need to revisit the subsidy question that destroys the planet and other peoples’ food economies. The moment policy internalises small farming, small farmers are going to flourish.

swissinfo.ch: Developed countries like Switzerland provide subsidies in the form of direct payments to farmers that are linked to activities like protecting the environment and maintaining the landscape. What is your opinion on this?

V.S.: I differentiate between subsidies and support. A nation should support the maintenance of its waterways, watersheds, soil, biodiversity and communities. Small countries in Europe like Switzerland and Norway have taken this path. If Switzerland supports its mountain farmers it is causing zero damage to dairy farmers in India. The subsidies that cause damage are the ones that are linked to agribusiness and exports because that is where dumping starts to happen.

So I would say that ecological payments to farmers are necessary because agriculture is not just the production of commodities for global markets. It is also about taking care of the land, biodiversity, soil and water. A good farmer who is ecological and organic is doing the work of a physician giving you healthcare, which then reduces national expenditure on diseases.

So, I would completely separate subsidies to agribusiness for grabbing markets from support to small farmers to maintain a society, its ecosystems and culture. However, I am glad about this discussion over reduction of subsidies, as it can then link to issues like transition to ecological agriculture, localised food systems and that issues like increasing self-reliance and food sovereignty are coming into the picture.

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

swissinfo.ch: In Switzerland, the Swiss Farmers Association has submitted an initiative that will be put to vote by Swiss citizens calling for more self-sufficiency in food production. Do you think this is realistic or idealistic for a rich but small country?

V.S.: I think if there is one country that could show another way for farming it is Switzerland. Even though Syngenta has its headquarters in Switzerland, it was the Swiss people who had the first national referendum to keep genetically modified organisms (GMOs) out. This shows that corporate power cannot take over citizen’s power in Switzerland because of the referendum system. Corporations can lobby the government to change a law but how do they get to every citizen in every canton?

Switzerland unlike the American Midwest is a mountainous area. Therefore industrial agriculture just doesn’t work there. Thus the advantages of a decentralised democracy and a mountain ecosystem makes it possible for Switzerland to even conceive such an initiative for more self-sufficiency. Mountain ecosystems and communities should be the basis for food reliance in healthy economies.

I would be very happy to this initiative grow and wish all strength to the Swiss people and Swiss farmers.

swissinfo.ch: Indian agriculture is often viewed as inefficient and backward. What can the world learn from Indian small farmers?

V.S.: India is after all supporting 1.2 billion people. We recently prepared a report called “Health per acre”. What we did was first measure the biological productivity of small, diverse farms and we converted this into nutrition per acre. A small, biodiverse Indian farm is so productive that if scaled up to all the available agricultural land in the country, we could feed twice the Indian population. Small, biodiverse farms also provide a higher net income.

The world should start seeing that these giant monoculture farms are producing commodities that are not feeding people but are transformed into biofuel and animal feed. More land for this would aggravate hunger and not reduce it. Whatever does go to human food is nutritionally empty or toxic.

Brazil has followed this path of large scale commercial production, whether it is soyabean or sugarcane, by basically destroying its campacinos [small farmers]. That is why you have the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) who are now occupying these large farms in Brazil.
The one thing no government can touch is the sanctity of the small farm and the dignity that goes with

South Asia, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?


Food Sovereignty is Culture of Peace, an excerpt from my blog of June 1, 2015.

Peasant movements for food sovereignty are an important part of the global movement for a culture of peace, for several reasons.

First, they are the first line of defense against the advances of the culture of war. As
we said in the document that we sent from UNESCO to the UN to define the culture of peace, it
“represents a major change in the concept of economic growth which, in the past, could be
considered as benefitting from military supremacy and structural violence and achieved at the
expense of the vanquished and the weak.” (2) What better way to describe the advances of a few
transnational corporations, supported by so-called “free-trade treaties” who are attempting to
monopolize the seeds that farmers use throughout the world and to impose monoculture
agriculture based on their seeds and their pesticides?

The transnational corporations are supported by the military power of nation states
around the world, not only by the great powers, but also by the governments of the small
countries. An example is Guatemala, where despite pressure from a strong peasant movement to
support a Rural Integral Development law, the law is blocked by a coalition of right-wing parties.

Second, the peasant movements are organized not only locally, and to an increasing extent, on a global scale.
Look at the map of protests on April 17, the International Day of Peasant Struggle against Transnational Companies and Free Trade Agreements. There are actions on every
continent.

The peasant movements are based ultimately on the wisdom and experience of their ancestors as
described in the blog from this February, “Listen to the indigenous people.” (5) This is clearly stated in the declaration of the 6th Congress of the Latin American Coordination of Countryside Organizations: “We emerged from the heart itself of the 500-year process of indigenous, peasant, black and popular resistance.” (6)

The peasant struggle ultimately concerns all of us. As we concluded in the February blog, we
need to “organize local cooperatives and local food production instead of importation and agrobusiness . . . In this way we can protect ourselves against the crash of the American empire and the global economy that it manages.”

Finally, we can say that the peasant movement for sustainable agriculture is not only part of the global movement for a culture of peace, but perhaps its most critical component because it will enable us to survive after the crash and during the period when it may be possible to make a transition from the culture of war to a culture of peace. For this reason it is especially important

– – –

This theme refers to the following CPNN articles:

Agricultural offensive: how Burkina Faso is moving towards self-sufficiency in food production

Report of the 2025 Nyéléni Global Forum on Food Sovereignty and Global Solidarity

Greenpeace: Here are the REAL culprits of the agricultural crisis in France

La Via Campesina calls on States to exit the WTO and to create a new framework based on food sovereignty

Indian farmers call off lengthy protest after govt assurances

VIEW Reactions to India’s decision to repeal farm laws

Several Social Movements are boycotting the UN Food Systems Summit, will hold counter mobilizations in July

Pope urges inclusive and sustainable food systems

India: Activist Disha Ravi, 22, Arrested Over Toolkit, Faces Conspiracy Charge

Irate farmers storm Delhi on tractors as tear gas deployed and internet cut off in scramble to defend Indian capital

Environmental and Farmers Organizations in Italy Stop Government Attempt to Give Green Light to GMOs and NBTs

Cooperation and Chocolate: The Story of One Colombian Community’s Quest for Peace

India’s Supreme Court puts controversial agricultural laws on hold amid farmers’ protests

India : ‘Delhi Chalo’ explainer: What the farmers’ protest is all about

FAO : Strong support for innovation and digital technologies in Latin America and the Caribbean

Feeding the people in times of Pandemic: The Food Sovereignty Approach in Nicaragua

Navajo Nation: Seeds of Hope during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Agroecology: The Real Deal For Climate Crisis In Africa

North Africa: The Corona pandemic and the Struggle for our Peoples’ Resources and Food Sovereignty

Earth Day Communiqué – 22nd April 2020 Making Peace with the Earth

USA: The Rebirth of the Food Sovereignty Movement: The pandemic is reviving the push for locally produced foods

USA: How Detroit’s farms and gardens are adapting to the COVID-19 crisis

Grow your own: Urban farming flourishes in coronavirus lockdowns

Agroecology and peasant agriculture to preserve biodiversity

In Latin America, agroecology is a deeply political struggle

France: Pierre Rabhi decorated with the Legion of Honor

France: The farmers who bought an old Lidl supermarket

France: Ces paysans qui ont racheté un Lidl supermarché

Guatemalan campesinos embrace ancestral farming practices to prevent migration

Uruguay: Declaration of the National Meeting and Festival of Family Farming and Producers of Creole Seeds

Argentina: Final declaration of the 6th Congress of CLOC Via Campesina

Argentina: CLOC-VC congress for supported food sovereignty and integral agrarian reforms

April 17: Farmers mobilise around the world against Free Trade Agreements and for food sovereignty

Interview with Vandana Shiva: Why small farms are key to feeding the world

Seed laws that criminalise farmers: resistance and fightback

France: Interview with a young farmer

Urban Farming Is Booming in the US, but What Does It Really Yield?

The film “Demain”, a manifesto?

Rennes, France : 210 000 habitants vers l’autosuffisance alimentaire !

Rennes, France: 210 000 inhabitants move towards food self-sufficiency!

Changing the system to address injustices: discussing with Mamadou Goita on the World Social Forum

Three Colombian women tell us why preserving seeds is an act of resistance

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Guatemalan campesinos embrace ancestral farming practices to prevent migration

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Jeff Abbott, Waging Nonviolence (abridged)

There is a crisis facing campesinos in rural Guatemala, as tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors have traveled to the United States over the last year in search of work. Yet the same forces that have driven many onto the migrant trail have led to the emergence of a movement of young campesinos organizing to stay on their land, and not be forced to migrate to the cities or the United States. In the process, they hope to recuperate the ancestral Mayan forms of agriculture, and combat hunger and poverty in their communities. . .

Guatemala
Thousands of Q’eqchi’ Maya farmers from the communities around Chisec gather in the central square of Chisec to celebrate the campesino. (WNV/Jeff Abbott)

On a national level, the young campesinos have found support from a number of grassroots organizations, including the Coordinator of NGOs and Cooperatives, the United Campesino Committee and the Campesino Committee of the Plateau. Since 2009, these organizations have campaigned for laws that will allow farmers to stay on their land. One of these laws is Law 40-84, or the Rural Integral Development law.

“This law would oblige the state of Guatemala to assist the people living in rural areas,” Mauritius said. “It would ensure that the local market is supported.”

Since the law was first proposed in 2009, there have been regular protests demanding that the law be passed. Yet with each attempt, and each protest, the law is blocked by a coalition of right-wing parties.

Organizers have hoped to overcome the blockage through an awareness campaign entitled “I support 40-84,” which targets urban populations, trying to bring awareness of the importance of farmers to those who live in the city. The campaign has utilized videos and other materials to build support among civil society.

The campesinos have continued to keep the pressure on the government to provide a solution by holding regular protests, blocking highways, and occupying space in Guatemala City, demanding that the government pass the law.

In September and November 2014, farmers shut down major highways throughout Guatemala. And on April 17, over 400 families from the states of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz and Izabal, traveled from their homes to occupy different parts of Guatemala City to demand a solution to the hundreds of conflicts over land in their states and that the Congress pass 40-84.

“We are going to be here until the government of Guatemala meets our demands,” said Jose Chic of the Campesino Committee of the Plateau. “We’ve set up medical services, kitchens and even schools for the children. The reality is that the social services here are better than the services that these families have in their communities.”

But despite the campaigns and protests, progress has been slow.

The small farmers have received help from other organizations, such as Utz Che, or “Good Tree” in the Mayan language Kaqchikel, which have worked alongside the campesinos to assist them in renegotiation of debts. For the community of La Benediction, this has led to the lowering of the debt that is owed from the purchase of the land to 342,000 Quetzales.

“Utz Che has been assisting the community,” said Barrios. “The situation still remains critical, but we are organized.”

Question for this article:
Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Why it matters that left-wingers just won in oil-rich Alberta

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Ben Adler, Grist (abridged)

. . . On Tuesday [May 5], the lefty New Democratic Party (NDP) won the provincial elections on a platform that promises to diversify Alberta’s fossil fuel–dependent economy. The NDP campaigned on criticism of the Conservatives for being too close to the oil industry and a pledge to tax more oil profits. From The Wall Street Journal:

alberta

“The longtime ruling party of Canada’s energy-rich Alberta province lost its four-decade hold on power on Tuesday, ushering in a left-leaning government that has pledged to raise corporate taxes and increase oil and gas royalties.

“The Alberta New Democratic Party swept enough districts to form a majority, taking most of the seats in both the business center of Calgary and the provincial capital of Edmonton, according to preliminary results from Elections Alberta. . .

“We need to start down the road to a diversified and resilient economy. We need finally to end the boom-and-bust roller coaster that we have been riding on for too long,” NDP leader Rachel Notley, who is expected to succeed [Jim] Prentice as Alberta’s premier, said at a news conference.

“The NDP has long been a marginal force in Alberta’s traditionally conservative politics, but recent public opinion polls showed its popularity surging. In the campaign, Ms. Notley attacked Mr. Prentice for reinstating provincial health-care premiums and being too cozy with oil-patch interests.

“In a move that spooked some energy company executives during the campaign, Ms. Notley raised the specter of increasing royalties levied on oil and gas production, although she said that her party would only consider that once crude-oil prices recovered from recent lows.

“She also signaled her party wouldn’t support a proposed Enbridge Inc. crude-oil pipeline, called the Northern Gateway, which would connect Alberta’s oil sands with a planned Pacific coast terminal in British Columbia, telling a local newspaper that ‘Gateway is not the right decision.’:

Notley also doesn’t support plans for Keystone XL, and pledged to stop spending taxpayer dollars to push the pipeline in Washington, D.C. (She does support two other tar-sands pipeline projects, though.) And she wants Alberta to get more serious about climate change, as the Globe and Mail reports:

“Another focus, according to Ms. Notley’s platform, will be bolstering the province’s reputation on climate change as previous governments have resisted establishing tougher targets for carbon reduction from the oil sands and other industries.”

The NDP triumph in Alberta may put political pressure on the Harper government, which is facing a federal election this fall. The province’s voters sent the message that they want more protection for the environment and less pandering to oil interests. This couldn’t happen at a better time, as environmentalists are nervously awaiting Canada’s proposal for carbon emission reductions heading into the U.N. climate negotiations to be held this December in Paris. Will Harper now make a more significant climate commitment? We’ll all be watching to see.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Question for this article:

Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

See the comment below. CPNN readers are encouraged to add to this discussion.

North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT