Greenpeace calls for real solutions in agriculture - not'pie in the sky' ideas

["Barbara Kuepper" <Barbara.Kuepper@greenpeace.de>]

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genet-news mailing list
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Greenpeace calls for real solutions in agriculture - not 'pie in the sky'
ideas


Bonn/London, 3rd September, 2001 - Greenpeace today accused the world's
governments of failing to fulfil their commitment to reduce world hunger
(1) while ignoring the methods of agriculture that are environmentally
sound and proven. The organisation claimed that nutritious, high-yielding
and often naturally pest-controlled crops are already being produced, but
that the commercial power and political influence of the genetic
engineering (GE) industry is preventing proper investment in these
preferred solutions.

A study, commissioned by Greenpeace and a development organisation Bread
for the World found 208 examples of sustainable agricultural projects at
work in 52 developing countries (2). This study was presented on the eve of
an international conference 'Sustainable Food Security for All by 2020'
organised by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) this
week in Bonn (3). The projects in the study show how hunger and poverty can
be overcome by sustainable agriculture without genetic engineering,
threatening biodiversity, eroding the soil base, polluting water or
endangering human health.

'Rather than supporting existing environmentally friendly practices
governments are acting as if they have delegated their responsibility to
feed the world to the GE industry, which is full of 'pie in the sky' ideas
and gives no credit to what is literally already on the ground. The real
solutions are out there but desperately lacking funding and promotion
because it is in the GE industry's interest to keep it that way. If the
level of investment that we see for GE today was made available to proven
sustainable methods of production and researching alternatives it would go
a long way to address problems of agriculture in developing countries,'
said Lorenz Petersen, Genetic Engineering Campaigner for Greenpeace.

Greenpeace called on the world governments to take their commitment to
achieve food security for all seriously and reverse the current trend of
declining assistance to developing countries (4). The organisation demanded
independent public research and promotion of sustainable agricultural
models - especially those looking at the needs of small-scale farmers who
will suffer the most if the sell-out to GE industry continues.

'Sustainable agriculture is not a luxury but a necessity and it provides
the most effective means to combat hunger. We should solve problems, not
create new ones. Genetic engineering puts people and their environment at
further risk in countries that do not have the capacity to deal with the
problems that it may bring,' Petersen added.

For more information: In Bonn, Lorenz Petersen, Genetic Engineering
Campaigner, Mob: +49-171-8780813; Greenpeace Germany, Ulrike Brendel, Mob:
+49 171 8780831;
Greenpeace International Press Office, Teresa Merilainen, Tel: +31205236637

Photos of sustainable agricultural projects available from Greenpeace
International
Picture Desk, John Novis, Tel: +31205249580 or Mob: +31653819121

More information also on http://www.greenpeace.org

Notes to the editors:

(1) Representatives of 186 countries met in Rome in November 1996,
committed themselves to the time-bound, monitorable, yet modest goal of
halving hunger until 2015: 'We pledge our political will and our common and
national commitment to achieving food security for all and to an ongoing
effort to eradicate hunger in all countries, with an immediate view to
reducing the number of undernourished people to half their present level no
later than 2015.'

(2) The study " Reducing Food Poverty with Sustainable Agriculture: A
Summary of New Evidence" by Jules Pretty and Rachel Hine can be downloaded
on the internet at
http://www2.essex.ac.uk/ces/ResearchProgrammes/CESOccasion alPapers/SAFErep
SUBHEADS.htm

(3) The international conference on 'Sustainable Food Security for All by
2020', organised by the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI) in close collaboration with the German government and several other
organisations from civil society and the private and public sectors takes
place in Bonn on September 4- 6, 2001. The conference will address the
emerging concerns how to fulfil the goal declared by the World Food Summit
in 1996.

(4) Official Development Assistance has decreased during the 1990 from
0.33% to 0.25% of the Gross National Product of OECD Countries, to the
detriment of the majority of the developing countries, especially the least
developed countries in Africa which receive almost no private inflows.

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Greenpeace International
Genetic Engineering Campaign
Barbara Kuepper
phone: +49 30 30889914
fax: +49 30 30889930
e-mail: bkuepper@greenpeace.de
http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng