Africa is being opened up like a tin of sardines to a new wave of resource extraction, writes Colin Todhunter. Masked under the soubriquets of 'investment', 'growth' and 'free trade', a handful of vast global corporations are systematically plundering the continent's mineral wealth and leaving desolation in their wake, backed to the hilt by that ever-faithful servant of capital - the UK government.
… The corporate scramble for Africa's minerals: Britain's new colonialism … Colin Todhunter | 14th July 2016 News Africa Mining Corporations War Economics … Western Sahara Morocco bou-craa-cut.jpg Africa is being opened up like a tin of …
Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Limagrain are among the companies to buy into Africa's indigenous seed companies. It's all part of the corporate takeover of the continent's agriculture at the expense of the small farmers who feed most of Africa's people.
… Big Biotech's African seed takeover The Ecologist | 13th October 2014 News Africa Farming Corporations tanseed-cut.jpg … Limagrain are among the companies to buy into Africa's indigenous seed companies. It's all …
The idea that GMO cotton offers hope to Africa's impoverished cotton farmers is facile and fraudulent, writes Arya Tajdin. In fact it only adds to their vulnerability. Their real problems lie in the structural oversupply of subsidized cotton on world markets, and the flood of 'kifua' - dead white man's clothing - that undermines the continent's textile industries.
… GM cotton: a false promise for Africa's farmers Arya Tajdin | 27th August 2015 News Farming Africa Tanzania Trade Corporations … The idea that GMO cotton offers hope to Africa's impoverished cotton farmers is facile …
The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired, writes Stephen Greenberg, with the Gates Foundation and USAID playing puppet-masters to Africa's governments - now meeting in Addis Ababa - as they drive forward corporation-friendly seed regulations that exclude and marginalize the small farmers whose seeds and labour feed the continent.
… Grabbing Africa's seeds: USAID, EU and Gates Foundation … Oliver Tickell | 23rd March 2015 News Africa Farming Seeds Corporations USA EU maria … The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired, writes …
£600 million of UK aid money is going to help companies like Unilever and Monsanto take over African land and agriculture, writes Miriam Ross. The corporate power-grab will be disastrous for the small-scale farmers who feed at least 70% of Africa's people.
… UK 'aid' is financing a corporate scramble for Africa Miriam Ross | 3rd April 2014 News Food Farming Africa Corporations africa-woman-farmer.png £600 million of UK aid …
Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open farming up to an agribusiness invasion - displacing the millions of small cultivators that now feed the continent, and replacing them with a new model of profit-oriented agriculture using patented seeds and varieties. The agencies effecting the transformation are legion - but they are all marching to a single drum.
… Land and seed laws under attack as Africa is groomed for corporate recolonization … AFSA The Ecologist | 12th February 2015 News Africa Food Farming Seeds Corporations Un Development sorghum-cut.jpg Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open …
Campaigners have forced the biggest shareholder in a titanium mining project on south Africa's 'Wild Coast' to withdraw, reports Rachel Lees. But they now fear the project itself will continue under the auspices of local 'front' companies, while the big profits enrich the British and Australian investors that are the real masters of Africa's neo-colonial minerals boom.
… Victory in the campaign against mining South Africa's Wild Coast - but it's not over yet! Rachel Lees | 21st July 2016 News Mining Africa South Africa Finance UK Australia Indigenous Peoples …
An elite group of aid donors and agribusiness corporations met in London this week to plan the takeover of Africa's seeds, writes Ian Fitzpatrick, replacing traditional seed breeding and saving by small farmers with a corporate model of privatized, 'improved', patented, genetically uniform and hybrid seeds in a profit-driven market.
… Carving up Africa - aid donors and agribusiness plot the … Oliver Tickell | 26th March 2015 News Africa Food Farming Corporations Seeds USA UK … in London this week to plan the takeover of Africa's seeds, writes Ian Fitzpatrick, …
A farming revolution is under way in Africa, pushed by giant corporations and the UK's aid budget. It will surely be good for the global economy, writes Sophie Morlin-Yron, but will Africa's small farmers see the benefit?
… Africa's farm revolution - who will benefit? … | 18th February 2014 News Food Farming Africa Corporations moz-farmers-1.png A farming revolution is under way in Africa, pushed by giant corporations and the …
The pristine landscape of South Africa's Wild Coast is under threat from mining, writes Hal Rhoades, and the communities standing up to defend the land are facing deadly consequences: harassment, threats, physical assault and murder. Attacks on mine opponents have taken four lives so far and many others have been injured. But the opposition is growing and gaining international support.
… murder: the deadly struggle to protect South Africa's Wild Coast Hal Rhoades | 12th May 2016 News Mining South AfricaAfrica Indigenous Peoples Protest Finance …
GM crops may benefit agribusiness, writes Andrew Adam-Bradford. But they offer little to Africa or the millions of farming communities that feed the continent. Rather than impose corporate 'solutions', governments should invest in indigenous agro-ecological farming.
… GMOs - but there are smarter ways to feed Africa Andrew Adam-Bradford | 9th August 2014 Comment Africa Kenya Farming GMOs Development Corporations woman-farmer-africa-cut.jpg GM crops may benefit …
On international women's day, a remarkable lady fighting to maintain the ancient traditions, local knowledge and sacred sites of one of South Africa's last indigenous clans talks to the Ecologist
… Celebrating women activists: South Africa's Mphatheleni Makaulule The Ecologist | … knowledge and sacred sites of one of South Africa's last indigenous clans talks to the … up in the VhaVenda tribe of northern South Africa. She has a deep passion for the culture …
Africa's biotech establishment is deploying its biggest guns to attack NGOs opposed to GMO crops to help push through Ghana's corporation-friendly Plant Breeders Bill - a key element in the corporate enclosure of Africa's farming, seeds and agricultural heritage.
… Ghana | 17th February 2015 Comment GMOs Africa Corporations Science Commons Health cowpea-harvest-ghana-cut.jpg Africa's biotech establishment is deploying … - a key element in the corporate enclosure of Africa's farming, seeds and agricultural …
Corporate interests have skewed the entire development agenda for agriculture in Africa, writes Ian Fitzpatrick. Instead of investing in sustainable, small scale farming along agroecological principles that raise production and support rural communities, governments - including the UK's - are backing destructive industrial farming and land grabs.
… Agroecology can feed Africa - not agribusiness Ian Fitzpatrick | 10th March 2015 News Africa Land Grabs Development Corporations … entire development agenda for agriculture in Africa, writes Ian Fitzpatrick. Instead of …
Coca-Cola is the latest company to join the agricultural 'scramble for Africa', writes Miriam Ross. Backed by £600 million of British aid under the guise of 'food security' and 'nutrition', a vast give-away of Africa's land is under way that will condemn small farmers to landlessness and poverty.
… Coca-Cola is not the solution to hunger in Africa Miriam Ross | 22nd September 2014 Comment Food Farming Corporations Africa UK farmer-ethiopia-keep-watch-cut.jpg A … to join the agricultural 'scramble for Africa', writes Miriam Ross. Backed by £600 …
Ethiopia leads the way in preserving crop seeds by engaging farming communities in the effort, and making the exchange of seeds part of village life and culture, reports Claire Provost. But now it's all at risk from a G8 plan to open Africa to corporate agriculture.
… - under threat from G8 plan to 'develop' Africa Claire Provost in Addis Ababa | 25th April 2014 News Africa Ethiopia Corporations Farming Land … now it's all at risk from a G8 plan to open Africa to corporate agriculture. Inside the …
The rainforest habitat of chimpanzees and other great apes is being destroyed by the expansion of palm oil projects in central Africa, according to new evidence from Greenpeace.
… Palm oil wiping out Africa's great ape rainforests The Ecologist | 24th February 2015 News Food Farming Africa EU Transport Politics Corporations … the expansion of palm oil projects in central Africa, according to new evidence from …
As the G7 leaders prepare to meet in Bavaria this weekend, small-scale farmers from around the world call on them to abandon their disastrous plan for the corporate takeover of global agriculture and the extirpation of small-scale farmers everywhere - those who produce most of the world's food. True food security must be rooted in local control over land, seeds and water.
… estimated to produce 70% of the food in Africa. Addressing food and nutrition … and hunter-gatherer societies. However, African governments and international donors support to African agriculture increasingly focuses on …
Janine Roberts describes how De Beers cons the world into paying so much for its cheap, plentiful diamonds and turns a blind eye to the eradication of the oldest culture on the planet.
… countries in the world – in southern Africa, Australia, northern Canada and Russia. … it costs $9, in the Finsch mine in South Africa it costs $12, and in the Argyle mine in … At the Kleinzee diamond mine on South Africa’s Atlantic coast, it costs De Beers, on …
Sharing and saving seed is a crucial part of traditional farming all over Africa, writes Heidi Chow. Maybe that's why governments, backed by multinational seed companies, are imposing oppressive seed laws that attack the continent's main food producers and open the way to industrial agribusiness. But Ghana's women farmers are having none of it.
… women farmers resist the G7 plan to grab Africa's seeds Heidi Chow | 22nd May 2015 Activism Farming Africa Seeds Ghana GMOs Corporations women … crucial part of traditional farming all over Africa, writes Heidi Chow. Maybe that's why …
The European Parliament today called on the Commission and member states like the UK to stop funding the 'New Alliance' plan to force export-oriented agribusiness onto Africa. Instead they want support for small-scale family farms and agroecology.
… 'aid' funding billions to agribusiness in Africa Oliver Tickell | 7th June 2016 News Corporations Aid Food Farming EU Africa GMOs Agroecology fatu-kanu-cut.jpg The … to force export-oriented agribusiness onto Africa. Instead they want support for …
The conflict between lions and Africa's cattle herders goes back centuries, write Grant Hopcraft and Sara Blackburn - and lions have been the big losers in recent years. But where local people benefit from ecotourism, that ancient enmity can quickly be set aside. 'Community conservancies' around formal protected areas are helping both lions and indigenous communities to survive and thrive.
… Africa's lions and pastoralists share the … Comment Natural World Hunting Biodiversity Africa Indigenous Peoples Kenya Science … The conflict between lions and Africa's cattle herders goes back centuries, … of a lost soul in the darkness. The plight of Africa's lions is lamentable. Since the 1960s, …
New research indicates that agricultural policies aimed at alleviating poverty in Africa are making things worse, writes Lawrence Woodward. Backed by 'development' aid, big business is forcing modern farming practices on unwilling rural communities. Only the rich benefit, while the poor carry the burden of landlessness and debt.
… agriculture is increasing poverty in Africa Lawrence Woodward | 11th February 2016 News Farming Development Africa Corporations The Land … policies aimed at alleviating poverty in Africa are making things worse, writes …