The eighth round of UN negotiations for a Binding Treaty on transnational corporations and human rights came to an end on Friday with an action held by social movements and organizations which demanded “Rights for Peoples, Rules for TNCs.” The negotiations closed with the presentation of a report and recommendations by the Chair, which included an informal document prepared by…
The eighth round of United Nations negotiations for a Binding Treaty to regulate the human rights violations committed by transnational corporations begins this Monday 24 October 2022, in Geneva, Switzerland. These international talks began in Geneva in 2015 at the UN Human Rights Council. This year, they present new challenges for social movements and organisations that have been pushing for…
Starting on Monday 10 October through to Thursday, the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) will hold its 50th session, in Rome, Italy. This year, it faces the challenge of the third massive hunger crisis to hit the world in the past 15 years. But, will it be able to put in motion the structural changes needed to…
Agrcommodities have been ravaging forests across Malaysia and East Asia for decades. Since the 1990s, monoculture plantations have replaced logging, yet they are no less destructive on the environment or communities. “You can see the movement of the transnational logging industry first in the Philippines, then after the forest is gone, Thailand and then Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.…
On the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations, activist Sandra Escobar tells us a story of pain and joy, as peoples in Honduras struggle against the expansion of oil palm plantations and build alternatives together. Approximately 198,000 hectares of Honduras are planted with oil palm crops, representing almost 2% of the country’s land. Annually, it produces 2.4 million…
The industrial food system, which dominates how we grow, distribute and consume food across the world, is under the control of global food and finance corporations. Their focus is to produce “agrocommodities”, such as palm oil, soy, corn and meat, for trade in global markets. Their central aim is to extract the highest profit possible. “Agrocommodity companies operate in a…
For many years, communities and civil society organisations in Japan have been repeatedly calling on their government to suspend support for new coal-fired power projects in Indonesia and Bangladesh, notably the Indramayu and Matarbari power plant projects. Not only would these projects fuel the climate crisis, they would also damage the livelihoods of local people and worsen the oversupply of…
Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for many in the Philippines. 25-30% of working people are involved in cultivation, animal rearing or fish farming, and the sector contributes around one tenth of the country’s economy. The industrial food system, with its focus on monocropping and chemical inputs to maximise harvests for export, is devastating the environment and livelihoods of…
Togo is one of the smallest countries in Africa and home to 8.6 million people. Since the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, increasingly extreme weather and recent food price rises, the state of food security in Togo has greatly deteriorated. In 2022, 1 in 5 people in the country don’t have access to or can’t afford enough healthy, nutritious food. Yet…
Before the Green Revolution came to Sri Lanka in the 1960s, with the imposition of modernised machinery, high yielding varieties, increased use of fertilisers and other agrochemical inputs, the country had an ecologically sustainable agricultural system. Farmers used mixed farming techniques and cultivated in a manner that protected the natural environment and human health. They maintained soil fertility through the…
