During the 46th session of the UN Committee on World Food Security (14-18 October in Rome, Italy) discussions were held about the state of food security and nutrition across the planet. Proposals were in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda, notably Goal 2 for Zero Hunger. This multilateral governance space has seen an increasing presence of agribusiness corporations,…
Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) is suing the government over the commercialization of GM cowpeas and GM rice for safety issues of concern for the organization, although commercial distribution has not been approved yet. Edwin Baffour, Director of Communications of FSG, explained to RWR why they are suing the government: "Right now there is no commercial granting of any GMO, but government…
“The attempts to establish the supremacy of human rights over corporate logic are not covered in the entire text of the Draft 1”, warned Brazilian expert Manoela Roland about the new document presented by the Ecuadorian Chair in UN negotiations for a legally binding treaty on transnational corporations and human rights. “In addition, the scope of the future treaty has…
The order was issued on July 9 by Judge Elton Pupo Nogueira, member of the Minas Gerais Justice Tribunal. While the amount to be paid by the company has not been defined yet, the court has blocked Vale´s assets for 3 billion dollars and commissioned an independent technical investigation to assess socioenvironmental impacts and technical assistance for the people affected…
After many months of debate and with a strong support from the public opinion, the Liberian government passed the Land Rights Act in September, 2018, which officially recognizes the rights of local communities over their productive lands, without the need of long entitlement proceedings. With this huge step, Liberia could promote deep land and forest reforms in Central and Western…
As the National Biosafety System and the National Seeds Institute (INASE) of Uruguay announced they will carry out a public consultation to authorize transgenic wheat event HB4-PAT for research and cultivation assays, environmental organizations such as REDES - Friends of the Earth Uruguay and the National Native Seed Network expressed in a statement issued on July 11 their rejection to…
The communications team of the 8th Continental Congress of the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-La Vía Campesina) interviewed Rafael Santiesteban, head of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), present at the Congress. The event took place on June 28 in El Laguito, in Havana, Cuba. Santiesteban reflected about the importance of the first law on Agrarian Reform…
This week there was a new round of negotiations and in light of the potentially imminent conclusion of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, social movements and organizations gathered in the Continental Day for Democracy and against Neoliberalism expressed their rejection to the agreement and demanded an immediate end to the negotiations. To analyze…
The country´s top court rejected the challenge to the law filed by mining corporations with the support of the government of San Juan Province, which demanded the Glacier Protection Law passed in 2010 to be repealed and to be considered unconstitutional. In Argentina there are 322 mining projects, 44 of which are nearby or on bodies of ice. By declaring…
Saturnino 'Jun' M. Borras Jr. is a Filipino political activist and academic who has been deeply involved in rural social movements in the Philippines and internationally since the early 1980s. He was part of the core organizing team that established the international peasant movement La Vía Campesina. Jun has written extensively on land issues and agrarian movements. This is how…
