Ghana's government is desperate to pass a Plant Breeders Bill that would remove farmers' ancient 'seed freedom' to grow, retain, breed and develop crop varieties - while giving corporate breeders a blanket exemption from seed regulations. Now the farmers are fighting back.
… Ghana's farmers battle ‘Monsanto law' to retain seed freedom Chris Walker … 2014 News Food Farming Seeds Ghana Africa Law Politics ghana-farmers-protest-cut.jpg … and to feed the country. Under the laws, farmers that use seed varieties claimed …
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 … Un Development sorghum-cut.jpg Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open farming up to … the ground - they are also changing African laws to accommodate the agribusiness agenda. …
Lured by promises of aid and investment, African governments are rewriting laws to create lucrative opportunities for corporate agribusiness, writes Chris Walker - while consigning their own farmers to servitude and landlessness. But now farmers are rising up, as in Ghana where a new 'Monsanto law' threatens to end their right to grow, save and share their ancestral seeds.
… Farming Seeds Africa Corporations Finance Law Development brong-ahafo-ghana-cut.jpg … investment, African governments are rewriting laws to create lucrative opportunities for … rising up, as in Ghana where a new 'Monsanto law' threatens to end their right to grow, …
How far would you go to fight plans for a new waste incinerator? One woman went all the way...
… that’s criminal. In 1984 Ohio passed a law prohibiting the construction of any … not built until 1991, seven years after that law was enacted. A congressional hearing on … Congress that they’d violated their own laws in issuing the permit, but they …
Industrial logging in the world's second largest rainforest is out of control, writes Raoul Monsembula, and spells disaster for both wildlife and forest people. There is an alternative: community forestry has just been enshrined in law. But resources must be committed to law enforcement in Congo and abroad, and to empowering forest communities.
… Forests Congo Africa Indigenous Peoples Law Regulation Commons bonobo.jpg Industrial … community forestry has just been enshrined in law. But resources must be committed to law enforcement in Congo and abroad, and to …
It's barely mentioned in the election campaign or reported in the media. But a powerful faction of Tory ministers, ex-ministers and backbench MPs are bent on using Brexit to ignite a massive bonfire of 'spirit-crushing' laws on wildlife protection, air and water pollution, pesticides, renewable energy and public health, writes Brendan Montague. At risk are not just EU directives and regulations but even the UK's own Climate Change Act. May's Brexit may not just be hard, but very, very dirty.
… UK EU Brexit Pollution Pesticides Wildlife Law Conservation … ignite a massive bonfire of 'spirit-crushing' laws on wildlife protection, air and water … in the process. There are more than 200 laws "covering water and air quality, waste …
Ecocide is a global problem, writes Bukola Saraki, and laws are desperately needed to hold companies to account for the damage they cause. Nigeria - long despoiled with impunity by the oil industry - is just the place to start.
… a global problem, writes Bukola Saraki, and laws are desperately needed to hold companies … Parliament. However bringing an Ecocide Law to the EU does not have to be the first … this fight. Ecocide is a global problem - and laws are being drafted and petitioned for in …
Nigeria is suffering political instability resulting from desertification and pollution, writes Senator Bukola Saraki. As Africa's most populous country it has no choice but to engage in the fight against climate change, its causes, and its consequences.
… Comment Nigeria Africa Climate Change Unfccc Law nigeria-water-for-sale.png Nigeria is … on creating a global fund for implementing laws that would be created. Last week's GLOBE … to develop and pass climate change laws? With tight government budgets, raising …
On 10 December, the European Parliament will vote over a huge fisheries partnership agreement with Morocco. If the agreement is approved the environment, human rights, peace and international law will all suffer. Erik Hagen reports...
… human rights, peace and international law will all suffer. Erik Hagen reports... As … to join, in clear violation of international law, in the plunder of Western Sahara's fish. … actions. For example, Morocco has outlawed civil society organisations in Western …
Five international judges say Monsanto's activities have negatively affected individuals, communities and biodiversity, writes Claire Robinson. The Monsanto Tribunal's damning ruling denounces the company's harmful impacts on food sovereignty, agricultural production, access to nutrition, the natural environment, seed diversity, climate change, pollution and traditional cultural practices.
… GMWatch | 24th April 2017 News Corporations Law Farming Food GMOs Health Seeds Pesticides … expertise in human rights and international law issues. They were led by the Belgian … are tasked with examining the rules of law applicable to problematic events or …
Trading standards have launched an investigation after Unearthed found illegal pesticides and weedkillers easily available to UK consumers. CRISPIN DOWLER reports
… is specifically prohibited under European law . US environmental regulators have warned … to radically strengthen the enforcement of laws banning the sale of such products, to … council takes any allegation of the sale of unlawful goods by companies based in Westminster …
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.
… seed companies, are imposing oppressive seed laws that attack the continent's main food … why we exchange them." An oppressive new law is putting all this under threat The … by a proposed bill - dubbed the ‘Monsanto Law' - in Ghana. Its effect would be to …
Africa's poor environmental record has its roots in colonialism, which cut artificial boundaries through peoples and ecosystems, and left a rigid 'fortress conservation' ethic, writes Willem Daniel Lubbe. It's time for countries to adopt a new pan-African environmentalism, and transcend their colonial past.
… 2015 Comment Africa Biodiversity Conservation Law elephants-masai-mara-cut.jpg Africa's poor … is needed. In their 1996 book, International Law and the Conservation of Biological … development in international environmental law. The African Commission on Human and …
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.
… corporations, backed by the full force of law, enter the valley? Photo: David Stanley … are required to make changes to their laws and policies to make life easier for big agribusiness. Laws governing seeds are a prime target. For …
News headlines today suggest that a UN report on glyphosate residues has given the controversial herbicide a clean bill of health, writes Georgina Downs. But that's seriously misleading: the panel concludes that exposure to the chemical in food is unlikely to cause cancer. But that does not apply to those exposed to it occupationally or who live near sprayed fields.
… the EU authorisation Regulation. The EU law regarding the authorisation of pesticides … in the UK, and in Europe, there are major flaws in the existing methods of exposure and … residents. This is despite the fact that EU law - that sets out the data requirements that …
After leaving the EU the government could allow dangerous pesticides banned elsewhere in Europe to be used in the UK, writes Keith Tyrell. Today, Pesticides Action Network is launching a new campaign calling on citizens to fight back against the pesticide industry - and ensure that EU directives and regulations serve as a baseline for British pesticide laws.
… Fighting the Brexit threat to pesticide laws Keith Tyrell PAN UK | 8th February 2017 … serve as a baseline for British pesticide laws. The vote to leave the EU will force the …
Over 100,000 Burkina Faso farmers were pleased with Monsanto's yield-boosting Bt cotton, write Brian Dowd-Uribe & Matthew Schnurr. But not the companies that had to buy the crop at a fixed government-set price. The shorter fibres produced by Bt varieties led to less lint being extracted, and of lower quality, making it a lose-lose proposition for the country's most important industry.
… Faso's decision to drop GM cotton and the law of unintended consequences Brian …
The anti-poaching conference in London today was disrupted by protests at the Botswana delegation - who call the indigenous Bushmen of the Kalahari 'poachers' and are forcing them into death camps.
… for hunting. Botswana's Bushman-only 'Pass Laws' The majority of Bushmen are forced to … which has been likened to the hated Pass Laws under apartheid South Africa. A high …
A federal judge has ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency is under no obligation to force pesticide makers to disclose supposedly 'inert' ingredients in their products - even where those ingredients are seriously hazardous to health or environment.
… Oliver Tickell | 14th June 2016 News Law Toxics Pesticides FOI Regulation USA … (EPA) has no duty under federal pesticide law to complete rulemaking on the disclosure … The judgment came last week in response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Environmental …
Survival International argues that the activities of WWF in the Congo Basin have been shown to be doing tremendous damage to rainforest tribes like the Baka, without effectively protecting the environment. But efforts to hold them to account have been frustrated, the director of Survival, STEPHEN CORRY, argues.
… behind the fact it’s acting within local law. Nor can it claim powerlessness in the … legislation. That’s because countries have laws which hurt people: South African … all perfectly “legal” under their national laws. Those who think the OECD Guidelines …
A damning expert critique of the National Farmers Union's application to use banned bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticide seed treatment on a third of England's oilseed rape crop this autumn has forced the UK government to refuse the NFU's demand.
… Oliver Tickell | 13th May 2015 News Bees Law Toxics Pesticides Farming UK England … naturally repel the pest. ClientEarth Toxics lawyer Vito Buonsante said: "This decision is a victory for bees and EU law and it bucks the trend of lenience towards …
Forensic analysis of DNA in ivory seized by police and customs officials reveals where it comes from, writes Samuel Wasser, giving valuable information to law enforcers. But this powerful tool is only as effective as the national authorities, and Tanzania, a major ivory hotspot, has been very slow to respond to warnings.
… Samuel Wasser, giving valuable information to law enforcers. But this powerful tool is only … just two areas. Targeting these two areas for law enforcement could stop the largest amount … State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to help us …
From asthma and allergies, diabetes and reproductive problems to cancer and obesity, environmental degradation plays a role... HEAL ensures our voices on these issues are heard in Brussels
… strengthening the recent pesticides revision law in the EU. ‘When the report came out from … to highlight vulnerable groups in the law and include EU guidelines that ask … heart attacks and childhood asthma. We have laws in place, but when it comes down to …
Overfishing along West Africa’s coast is endangering fish stocks and livelihoods, but local fishermen are not to blame.
… These unlicensed boats flout the laws and are not being stopped. They go in … these are illegally exceeded. International law forbids fishing with mono filament nets, … exist are old and often break down. ‘Fishery laws are worthless if they cannot be …