BONN, Germany, January 28, 2008 –/WORLD-WIRE/– In May the world will focus on issues of biodiversity when official negotiations of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety are held in Bonn, Germany. As the meetings open, the Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of
Food and Agriculture will celebrate the biological and cultural diversity of farming, gardening and food cultures with a public demonstration and festival on Monday, 12 May (Pentecost), followed by a three-day conference for 500 participants from all continents and realms of society.
“Food and agriculture are key to the unprecedented challenges of
global hunger and injustice, of climate change and loss of
biodiversity caused by man,” stated Benedikt Haerlin on behalf of a
broad-based organising and international advisory committee. “At this
alternative people’s summit of diversity, we want to discuss how
different movements of farmers and peasants, consumers, food
producers, women, environmentalists, gardeners, indigenous peoples,
cooperatives and their communities can cooperate to enrich, share and
defend both biological and cultural diversity. We see a new global
movement in the making to oppose environmentally and socially
destructive corporate monocultures that threaten the web of life, of
which we are all part,” he added.
Among the speakers of the event are alternative Nobel Prize winners
Vandana Shiva, Percy Schmeiser, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Ibrahim
Abouleish, Ryoko Shimizu and Tewolde Egziabher as well as Jakob von
Uexküll, of the World Future Council, World Food Prize winner Hans
Herren, the agricultural ministers of Tuscany and Tasmania and
scientists such as quantum physicist Hans-Peter Dürr, Miguel Altieri,
President of Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology and
Ulrich Köpke, President of the International Society of Organic
Agriculture Research, theologist and biologist Günter Altner and many
more.
“Most importantly, we will hear from spiritual leaders and
representatives of small farmers’, environmental, consumer and
women’s organisations, indigenous communities, seed savers and
gardeners and the thousands of grassroots initiatives who really make
a difference for the diversity of life and culture on this planet,”
said Haerlin.
Participatory workshops will complement the plenary sessions and
allow for intensive exchange and strategising on key issues such as:
food sovereignty and access to healthy food, water and land; consumer
rights and fair relations with producers; food and agricultural
tradition and quality; GMO-free regions; special concerns of women
and youth; free exchange of seeds and participatory breeding; patents
on life; agro-fuels; indigenous rights and knowledge; a new
scientific, political and ethical paradigm of diversity.
Those interested in attending the conference are encouraged to
register by 31 March. Those needing visas to enter Germany should
register by the end of January. You may register in English, Spanish,
French or German at:
http://pressrelease.ens-news.com/lt.php?id=MEpTDQQPS11WDh4LAQcGCA%3D%3D
Planet Diversity calendar of events:
12 May (Pentecost) International demonstration and public Festival of
Diversity;
13-15 May International Planet Diversity Conference with plenary
sessions in English, French, Spanish, German, workshops and
presentations of grassroots-initiatives and projects;
16 May Final day of Biosafety Protocol negotiations (international
liability regime for GM crops), press conference, excursions,
follow-up meetings
For up-to-date information see:
http://pressrelease.ens-news.com/lt.php?id=MEpTDQQAS11WDh4LAQcGCA%3D%3D
Planet Diversity is jointly organised by: German Family Farmers Union
(AbL); Protestant Church Development Service (EED);Friends of the
Earth International; GENET (European NGO Network on Genetic
Engineering); NGO Forum on Environment and Development; Gene-ethical
Network; Greenpeace International; Heinrich Böll Foundation; IFOAM
(World Organic Agricultural Movements); Initiative for GE-free Seeds
and Breeding (IGS); Save Our Seeds (Foundation on Future Farming);
Federation of German Scientists (VDW)
CONTACT:
Shannon von Scheele
Foundation on Future Farming
Tel: +49(0)30 275-903-09
Fax: +49(0)30 275-903-12