CBD is also discussing risky, untested and undebated technologies such as new kinds of synthetic biology, GM crops and geoengineering. “They attempt to create life that does not exist in nature, or promote very large projects like ocean fertilization to sequester carbon in the oceans having a impact marine life. There is no institution to oversee such bizarre developments and we cant predict the risks. These techno fixes will not solve our environmental problems. They will only make it worse”, said Marciano Toledo, La Via Campesina member from Brazil.

La Via Campesina promotes a strong monitoring of the industry which has been engaging in bio-piracy. “they steal our local biodiversity in order to patent it and commercialize it for profit. This patenting of nature needs to be stopped. In India Monsanto's subsidiary Mahyco has stolen our indigenous brinjal varieties to produce its Bt brinjal. The Indian biodiversity authority is now doing the right thing by taking legal action against them,” said KV Basavraj of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha(KRRS), Karnataka Farmers movement.

Small farmers bear the brunt of privatization of biodiversity and the commercial mono-culture model of farming. On one hand it places unfair economic burdens on farmers due to increased cost of production and indebtedness. “ The farmer suicide epidemic in India is directly linked to GM cotton and privatization and increasing costs. This is an attempt out wipe out our local small holder agriculture which is based on local biodiversity and resources,” said S Kannaiyan of South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements. On another hand this commercial monoculture model of farming has serious ecological impacts- GM crops and commercial hybrids use high fossil fuel based chemicals, consume more water, cause toxicity, increased pests and and emit green house gases.

The real solution is to keep biodiversity public, in the hands of farmers, fishers, pastoralists, indigenous peoples, open for use by all people to develop and use publicly for food production and human survival. It is well known that farmers, fishers and pastoralists have developed and renewed biodiversity over the millenia, their knowledge and expertise is crucial for conserving biodiversity. “We need to implement food sovereignty- which means ensuring the right of local producers to produce food in an ecological manner that maintains local and wild ecosystems. Small farmers develop biodiversity on their fields all over the world. This is the way to conserve biodiversity, to solve climate change and feed the world,” said Nandini Kardahalli of KRRS.

La Via Campesina is calling upon the CBD conference to take immediate action and to engage in the following measures:

1. To ban the introduction and cultivation of GMO seeds. Evidence has shown and proven that in the long term, the use of GMOs do not meet its promises such as productivity increase but on the contrary, lead to the development of super-weeds and genetic contamination, environment degradation as well as a sharp decline in biodiversity. The expansion of transgenic seeds has to be prevented, contrary to what is happening now in countries such as Indonesia who just allowed the introduction of GMO's.

2. To phase out the use of chemical pesticides. The production and use of chemical pesticides and herbicides (such as Monsanto's Round-up) is currently increasing, becoming one of the main causes of the crisis of biodiversity.

3. To shift from the use of synthetic fertilizers to the use of agroecology methods by using more organic matter in the soil and increasing micro-organism population in the soil.

4. To reject the Green Economy proposal of putting a price on nature and its functions. We say no to biodiversity and ecosystems offsets through market mechanisms, such as the Payment for Environmental Services and the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Biodiversity and ecosystems are unique wherever they are, and companies should not be able to destroy biodiversity and ecosystems in one place and “offset” it elsewhere.

5. To affirm and maintain the moratorium on terminator technology and the moratorium on geo-engineering.We call for the strengthening of the moratorium on geo-engineering, including a ban on field testing of geoengineering experiments, as they could have serious impacts on nature and the livelihoods of peasants.

6. To urgently place a moratorium on synthetic biology. We call for a ban on the environmental release and commercial use of synthetic biology.

Published in In Motion Magazine November 3, 2012

La Via Campesina -- An "international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. ... We are an autonomous, pluralist and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic, or other type of affiliation. Our 148 members are from 69 countries from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas."

For more information, visit www.viacampesina.org

Also see:

• A series of interviews and articles gathered by In Motion Magazine
  in Mozambique during and after the 5th International Conference
  of La Via Campesina in October 2008.