PAN (Pesticides Action Network) reports the recent initialing of a letter of intent - between FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) to CropLife International, the organization of the global pesticide and seed giants (1,2) - which could give rise to a #toxicalliance.
More than 350 organizations from 63 countries - representing farmers and ranchers, agricultural workers, human rights and the environment - as well as 250 scientists and researchers have already exposed serious perplexities, nevertheless receiving a unsatisfactory feedback.
Today it is proposed to every reader that they want to add their name to a collective letter, addressed to the FAO Director General Prof. Qu Dongyu. So that any hypothesis of synergy between the UN agency and the agro-toxic industry is put aside once and for all. Here because.
Agroecology and farmers' rights
Agroecology was indicated by FAO, in 2019, as the model to follow to innovate food systems in the direction of sustainable development. Under the banner of biodiversity of flora and fauna, protection of the environment (soil, water, air), protection of public health. (3)
The rights of the peasants and rural communities, in turn, have been considered since Committee for Food Security of the FAO and in a specific UN declaration (4,5). Their implementation postulates the availability of the means of production - starting from seeds - and independence from the compulsion to employ agrochemicals.
Opposing interests
The interests of Big Ag, in market economies, they cannot obviously coincide with those of the community. Rather, make the most of it by stimulating farmers' dependence on agrotoxicants to which only old GMOs and new they can resist.
The crisis of agricultural systems based on agrochemistry has been demonstrated in the USA, (6) although the Corporation have tried to mask the evidence with repeated scientific fraud (7,8). Even through the same CropLife International, as seen in the case of neonicotinoids. (9) But the same strategy is now being conducted in other countries, such as Brazil e Argentina.
The right of rights on genetic resources - carried on by Big Ag through UPO extension (The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) - in the context of free trade agreements (Free Trade Agreements, FTA) - also moves in the opposite direction to the demands of peasant movements and food sovereignty. (10)
Stop the #toxicalliance. Letter from PAN to FAO
PAN's letter to the FAO Director General, which each of us can subscribe to at this link, reads as follows.
'Dear General Manager Qu Dongyu,
We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the plan to strengthen official ties with CropLife International. We strongly urge you to reconsider this alliance.
This collaboration with CropLife, an association of companies that produce and promote dangerous pesticides, directly undermines FAO's priority of minimizing the harm of chemical pesticide use around the world. Dependence on dangerous pesticides undermines the right to adequate nutrition and health for present and future generations. More than a third of the sales of CropLife member companies are highly dangerous pesticides that pose the highest levels of risk to health or the environment.
Recent estimates show that there are 385 million cases of acute pesticide poisoning each year, compared to an estimated 25 million cases in 1990. This means that approximately 44% of farmers and agricultural workers worldwide are poisoned each year by an industry dominated by CropLife members. Pesticides produced by CropLife member companies decimate pollinating insect populations and are destroying biodiversity and already fragile ecosystems. '
Dystonia
'CropLife's sole purpose is to support the use of its members' products - both antiquated chemical solutions and genetically modified seeds - which bind farmers to an ever-increasing use of pesticides, along with proprietary seeds that have systematically undermined rights and welfare of the majority of the world's food producers.
A partnership with CropLife represents a perpetuation of this deeply unfair and unsustainable system. It undermines your agency's critical - and urgently needed - support for agroecology, which FAO itself notes "can support food production, food security and nutrition, while restoring ecosystem services and biodiversity that are essential for a sustainable agriculture '.
Provisional conclusions
'We strongly urge you'- concludes the letter of Pesticides Action Network - 'to continue to support the transition to people-driven agroecology, and to disrupt this deeply inappropriate alliance with an industry that places the interests of profit above those of public welfare and the planet. '
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Seeds, the 4 masters of the world. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.1.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/sementi-i-4-padroni-del-mondo
(2) Dario Dongo. Pesticides, we're all Big 4 guinea pigs. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 23.8.19. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/pesticidi-siamo-tutti-cavie-di-big-4
(3) Dario Dongo, Camilla Fincardi. Agroecology, SDGs, salvation. The FAO Decalogue. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.4.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/agroecologia-sdgs-salvezza-il-decalogo-della-fao
(4) Dario Dongo. FAO, China in command. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 27.6.19/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/fao-la-cina-al-comando
(5) Dario Dongo. Rights of the peasants, UN Declaration. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 23.11.18/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/diritti-dei-contadini-dichiarazione-onu
(6) Dario Dongo. Pesticides, acute toxicity in the US agricultural system. Scientific study. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 25.8.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/pesticidi-tossicità-acuta-nel-sistema-agricolo-usa-studio-scientifico
(7) Dario Dongo. Glyphosate, the fake studies used by Bayer for the renewal of the authorization. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 8.12.19/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/glifosato-gli-studi-falsi-usati-da-bayer-per-il-rinnovo-dell-autorizzazione
(8) Dario Dongo. Glyphosate, other frauds in the scientific studies produced by the 'Corporation'. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.2.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/glifosato-altre-frodi-negli-studi-scientifici-prodotti-dalle-corporation
(9) Marina De Nobili, Dario Dongo. Neonicotinoids, investigation into pesticide lobbies. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 7.1.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/neonicotinoidi-inchiesta-sulle-lobby-dei-pesticidi
(10) Stop UPOV global alliance. Trade deals pushing UPOV: an interactive map. Grain. 1.12.21, https://grain.org/en/article/6768-trade-deals-pushing-upov-an-interactive-map
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
