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. …
Human Rights Watch has gathered evidence in the war zones of Eastern Ukraine which show that Ukrainian government forces have violated the laws of war by using 'notoriously imprecise' rockets in civilian areas, destroying homes, killing and injuring non-combatants.
… Ukrainian government forces have violated the laws of war by using 'notoriously imprecise' … areas violates international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and may amount to war crimes. …
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, …
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 …
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 …
The uprooting and cutting down of over a million olive and fruit trees in occupied Palestine since 1967 is an attack on a symbol of life, and on Palestinian culture and survival, writes Dr. Cesar Chelala. A grave crime under international humantarian law, the arboricide is also contrary to Jewish religious teachings.
… 2015 Comment Middle East Farming Forests Law Human Rights War olive-tree-woman-cut.jpg … A grave crime under international humantarian law, the arboricide is also contrary to Jewish … A grave breach of international humanitarian law, and Jewish religious law In a review he …
Plane Stupid's Heathrow 13 escaped immediate incarceration yesterday for occupying Heathrow's northern runway last summer. But the threat of imprisonment remains firmly in place, writes Ali Tamlit, from a state determined to defend the corporations that are inflicting the systemic violence of climate change on us all. The peaceful fight for a better world must go on.
… February 2016 News Climate Change Aviation Law War heathrow-cut.jpg Plane Stupid's … the structures of violence through laws, policing, prisons, trade deals and a … the violence of climate change. They uphold a law which states that the activity of Heathrow …
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 …
There is nothing new in the environmental damage brought by war, writes Steven Freeland. Nor is there anything new about deliberate environmental damage as a instrument of warfare. But what is new is the scale of damage that can be inflicted by modern weapons of mass destruction. It's time for an international law against intentional environmental destruction.
… destruction. It's time for an international law against intentional environmental … climate change. A new international criminal law against deliberate ecocide? Despite all of … rules under international humanitarian law, international environmental law and …
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 …
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 …
A fusion of drone systems and chemical agents is set to transform the landscape of combat for states and non-state actors alike, writes Paul Rogers. These technologies won't just be used for warfare, but for 'public order' ... suppressing riots, protests and political dissent. Forget water cannon - this is the real deal.
… January 2015 Comment War Technology Toxins Law UK Protest water-cannon-chile-cut.jpg A … permits the employment of such chemicals for law enforcement including domestic riot … perspectives (international humanitarian law, human rights law, and international …
Superpower confrontations and growing tensions in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Arctic are all part of a new Cold War, writes Alexander Reid Ross - and this time Green campaigners are under attack by both Russian authorities and NATO ...
… campaigns. Meanwhile, Russia's foreign agents law, put into effect in recent years, has … For its part, Russia's new foreign agents law began with a formal registry in 2012. … NGO barring one refused to register, but the law has been strengthened this year. Within a …
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 …
Mission accomplished in Iraq? It is now, writes Mike Whitney. A million deaths on, a once peaceful, independent country has been transformed into a petro-economy of never ending civil chaos and terror, where multinational oil corporations rule supreme.
… to pressure Baghdad to pass the Iraq Oil Law." Oil Law - what Oil Law? What is the 'Iraq Oil Law', you ask? It's …
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 …
Korea's Jeju Island has been dedicated to peace ever since over 30,000 people were massacred there in 1948, writes Mica Cloughley. But now the US's 'pivot to Asia' demands a new naval base rejected by 94% of voters, and mobile phone giant Samsung is leading the construction project. Islanders are fighting every inch of the way.
… including an asymmetrical application of the law that has resulted in more than 600 people … Samsung is flagrantly violating international law and trampling the island's fragile … Samsung has broken countless environmental laws in their rush to build the military …
G4S, the UK government outsourcer that supports Israeli security functions in the West Bank, will now supply 'custodial services' to Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, writes Clare Sambrook. Shocked? You shouldn't be. G4S is impervious to public criticism and defies international law with impunity.
… Clare Sambrook | 13th August 2014 Activism Law War USA Cuba Corporations Human Rights … to public criticism and defies international law with impunity. Security company G4S has … base in Cuba where the US government unlawfully detains 149 alleged terrorists . The …
In rural West Wales, with no public consultation, the Ministry of Defence and QinetiQ are about to launch a new era in drone technology and experimentation. Paul Mobbs reports on Wales's role in a legally dubious future of mass surveillance and remote killing.
… Nations General Assembly appointed a British lawyer, Ben Emmerson, as the "UN Special … drone strikes arguably violated international law and the rules of war - and cited many … clarify these issues. Ignoring international law carries risks The military adventures in …
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 …
Rising temperatures are now affecting countries' ability to wage war, writes Richard Galustian, with Britain's new Type 45 destroyers left without power as warm Gulf and Mediterranean seas close down their engines. Will this, finally, force our politicians to understand that climate change is real and dangerous?
… ships to a crawl. Don't blame us - it's the laws of physics! Such ships were not designed … the same fate in those circumstances, it's a law of physics." Committee member Douglas …