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Micro-organisms and industry : a very, very concentrated market
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GMO: In the USA, a decade of promises without commercialization
n°173 - octobre / décembre 2023In the USA, in 2012, the authorities decided for the first time to exempt a GMO from regulatory requirements. It was a vine genetically modified by cisgenesis, one of the new techniques of genetic modification. Since then, nearly a hundred « new » GMOs have been the subject of a similar decision. Paradoxically, a decade after this […]
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Biodiversity and farmers’ rights : still a long way to go
#172 - 2023 - july - septemberThe agriculture/biodiversity interface is legislated by numerous texts (p.10-11). Some of these, such as the « Seeds Treaty » and the Convention on Biological Diversity, are the subject of regular meetings, during which the many debates often struggle to reach decisions. The last two major meetings were no exception to the rule… The international legal framework that […]
Agroecology, farming that respects the living world
#172 - 2023 - july - septemberIndustrial agriculture is destroying biodiversity (see p.3-5). Yet it is possible to produce without destroying (too much) biodiversity, thanks to agro-ecological practices and a farming organisation based on autonomy. But beware of distortion : agro-ecology can only be peasant-based… Agroecology has the wind in its sails : in France, agricultural research institutes (CIRAD, INRAE, IRD) […]
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Farmers burst in international debates on cultivated biodiversity
#172 - 2023 - july - septemberFarmers are organising themselves to defend the preservation and renewal of millions of local peasant seeds in their fields in the arenas of global governance. They are thereby fighting the industry’s attempts to reduce this immense diversity to a few patented gene combinations. Founded in 1993, La Via Campesina (LVC) is now the world’s leading […]
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An opulent and powerless regulatory landscape for declining biodiversity
n°172 - juillet / septembre 2023Environmental standards are proliferating everywhere, yet biodiversity is declining. Over the last fifty years or so, international, European and national standards have been adopted to substantiate mankind’s responsibility towards the environment and to reconcile human activities with its protection. One fact is widely acknowledged : the loss of biodiversity is proceeding with great strides. While some […]
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The ”Réseau Semences Paysannes”:20 years of defence of cultivated biodiversity
n°172 - juillet / septembre 2023Just 20 years ago, over 350 people, including representatives of farmers’ movements and unions, organic and biodynamic farming organisations and NGOs, came together for the first farmers’ seed meetings in France. These meetings marked the birth of the Réseau Semences Paysannes (RSP), a group of collectives working to promote cultivated biodiversity. Twenty years on, where […]
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Farmers’ seed systems, in the light of an alternative
n°172 - juillet / septembre 2023The autonomy of peasant seed systems is a founding element of the agro-ecological shift. Guy Kastler and Antonio Onorati, members of La Via Campesina, use examples to demonstrate the importance of peasant seeds in this movement. Farmers’ seed systems are not a vague aspiration of the ”custodians” of local varieties. Nor are they the aspiration […]
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Biodiversity withstanding agriculture
#172 - 2023 - july - septemberAlmost seven years have passed since the publication of our issue « Saving cultivated biodiversity » (No. 141, October 2016). Since then, the degradation of biodiversity, i.e. the entire diversity of living organisms, has accelerated, as evidenced by recent reports from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (better known by its acronym IPBES), […]
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Industrial agriculture kills biodiversity
#172 - 2023 - july - septemberThe collapse of biodiversity (both wild and cultivated) is essentially due to human activities. Among these, industrial agriculture, with its range of fertilisers, pesticides and other harmful practices, plays a key role. The collapse of biodiversity was once again highlighted at the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) at the Convention on Biological […]
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Intellectual property rights are detrimental to biodiversity
n°172 - juillet / septembre 2023Patents and plant breeders’ rights (PBR) are two types of intellectual property right. Both have a major impact on both cultivated and wild biodiversity. Certain intellectual property rights (IPRs) affect cultivated biodiversity, agriculture, but also wild biodiversity, which provides genetic resources [1] such as stevia or the neem tree [2]. These are patents and, for plant crops, […]
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GMOs : ambiguity of the animal breeding industry
#170 - 2023 - january - marchFor some European animal breeding industries, new genetic modification techniques can contribute to a sustainable food system. But, they say, their use must be done with great care, so as not to jeopardise food safety and animal health and welfare. This precaution is coupled with a call for « a legal framework on imports to ensure […]