Category Archives: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Vancouver, Canada: Michael Ableman’s Street Farm celebrates the transformation of asphalt into market gardens.

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A book review from BC Book Look (abbreviated)

The Sole Food Street Farms initiative in Vancouver has been described by its innovators as North America’s largest urban farm project, boasting an annual yield of 50,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables from five paved sites, 4.5 acres in total, employing 75 people from 2009.

vegetables

It all happens amid the asphalt and squalor of the Lower Track of Canada’s most expensive city (the urban area near Main and Hastings is not called the Downtown Eastside anymore).

Dr. Gabor Maté calls it “a great antidote to pessimism.”

Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson says, “It’s an ingenious use of space that has been vacant or otherwise discarded.”

During the program’s seventh growing season, co-founder and director Michael Ableman has published Street Farm: Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the Urban Frontier (Chelsea Green Publishing $33.20) to celebrate an initiative that he says operates on a scale unprecedented in North America.

A book launch with high profile chefs at Main & Terminal will be held on October 6, emceed by Fred Lee. Entry is $175 per person.

According to publicity materials, Sole Food pays $300,000 in annual wages to employees including 25 individuals dealing with drug addiction and mental illness.

“If you stretch your concept of what a family is, move beyond the stereotype of Mom, Dad and the kids,” said Ableman, “and you could say that the Sole Food farms and the community of farmers and eaters that rely on us are just that—a family. And for many of our staff, this family may be the only one they have ever had.”

All crops are grown in soilfilled growing boxes. It is claimed the overall yield for this growing system is 15 to 25 times higher than conventional “open field” growing systems. . .

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Question for this article:
North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

South America: A ‘sweeping’ win for the oceans that you didn’t hear about

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A blog by Scott Henderson on the Conservation Blog

Today [September 15] is the first day of the Our Ocean conference, an annual event hosted by the United States to seek commitments for protecting the ocean. The conference comes on the heels of historic commitments made last week from the presidents of Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador, who declared their intention to expand their countries’ pledges to ocean protection. Human Nature sat down with Scott Henderson, vice president of Conservation International (CI)’s Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape program, to discuss the significance of these commitments, which have largely avoided widespread attention so far.

oceans
The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica make their historic announcement. (© Conservation International/photo by Scott Henderson)

Question: What did the presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica announce?

Answer: Ecuador reiterated its commitment to rezoning the Galápagos Marine Reserve, beginning with the creation of a 36,000-square-kilometer (13,900-square-mile) fully protected sanctuary in the northwest of the reserve. Colombia stated their intention to quadruple the size (to more than 27,000 square kilometers, or 10,425 square miles) of the fully protected Malpelo Flora and Fauna Sanctuary. Costa Rica announced their intention to create a 10,000-square-kilometer (3,861-square-mile) fully protected area around Cocos National Park.

Here’s why it matters: These three presidents made sweeping commitments that could transform the way their ocean resources are managed, generating incredible benefits for their people. These commitments were made during a ceremony to celebrate the culmination of nearly 30 years of negotiations to agree on the definitive maritime borders between the three countries. Sitting behind these commitments is the growing recognition that creating marine reserves is not a wasted economic opportunity, but just the opposite: President Rafael Correa of Ecuador emphasized that industrial fishermen have told him they are one of the main beneficiaries of the Galápagos Marine Reserve. Effectively, the reserve has served as a massive fish “bank” that pays out “interest” to those that scoop up the abundant spillover on the reserve boundaries.

Q: What do these announcements mean for ocean conservation and ocean health?

A: President Correa was quick to note the strong ecological connections — uncovered over the past decade through the work of CI and partners — between Galápagos, Malpelo and Cocos Island. Together they make up the world’s densest cluster of UNESCO Marine World Heritage Sites along with Panama’s Coiba National Park. He emphasized three critical factors that national leaders have often failed to heed and act on. First, small areas provide protection for highly mobile species, especially large pelagic species such as sharks, turtles, rays, whales, seabirds, tuna and billfish. Second, strong protection in just one big area is not enough because these species spend different parts of their life cycles in different places. Third, big reserves in the middle of the ocean don’t do enough — these species often breed, feed or rest in coastal areas that are being lost to development or degraded by pollution.

(Article continued in the right side of the page)

Question for this article:

If we can connect up the planet through Internet, can’t we agree to preserve the planet?

(Article continued from the left side of the page)

To give you a sense of the import of this announcement: President Luis Solís of Costa Rica called it “transcendental,” and President Correa emphasized that it is one of the best moments in history for these three nations to cooperate to achieve shared goals. This historic announcement is nothing less than the declaration of a new sustainable development model that puts ocean management at the forefront of national strategies to improve the livelihoods of millions of people. These Latin American leaders have risen to the front of the global pack to act on their belief that marine conservation is a wise investment, not an economic drain.

Q: Describe the biodiversity of this region.

A: The Galápagos Marine Reserve, Malpelo Sanctuary, Cocos Island National Park and Coiba National Park are the crown jewels of the ETPS — the marine version of Africa’s Serengeti. As in the case of the Serengeti where vast herds of large migratory mammals and dependent predators follow seasonal changes, in the ETPS vast populations of iconic migratory marine species — sharks, turtles, rays, whales, seabirds, tuna and billfish — surge back and forth in response to seasonal changes in water temperature and food availability. In fact, these protected areas have registered the highest density of sharks recorded anywhere on Earth and some of the highest fish biomass (total weight per unit area) ever recorded. Cocos is world-renowned for its massive groups of hammerhead sharks and tiger sharks. Coiba is home to the region’s largest coral formations and numerous turtle nesting beaches. Malpelo’s large schools of silky sharks are a major attraction for divers and underwater photographers. Galápagos is home to rare and endemic marine species such as Galápagos penguins and sea lions, as well as more than a third of the world’s whales and dolphin species.

The marine “highways” that connect these sites are some of the world’s great tuna fishing grounds. The coasts that border the ETPS are covered with mangroves, which serve as nurseries for many of these iconic species, and the beaches are nesting grounds for sea turtles.

Q: What are the challenges to making these new protections happen?

A: To make the most of this opportunity three key things must happen. First, the three leaders need to garner support from key constituencies in their countries, especially industrial fishermen and related businesses. Second, these leaders and the full range of ministries that create and implement marine policy in these countries — Environment, Fisheries, Defense, Foreign Relations, Finance and Tourism — will have to all pull in the same direction towards a shared vision of building prosperity around marine conservation and management. Third, the international community will have to be prepared to respond with funding to help overcome the barriers that currently stand in the way of the ETPS becoming an outstanding example of ocean-based development.

There has never been a more promising moment in this region’s marine history.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

History Made: New England Ocean Treasures Protected!

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A blog by Brad Sewell, Natural Resources Defense Council

President Obama made history today [September 15]. He established the nation’s first marine national monument in the waters of the continental United States: the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, located about 150 miles of the coast of Cape Cod. The monument will forever protect the rich diversity of marine wildlife that inhabits these undersea canyons and seamounts from harmful commercial activities, like mining, drilling, and fishing. It will build a reservoir of ecological resilience in the region, helping to protect and restore fish and other wildlife populations and to minimize the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification. 

NRDC
Map of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Credit: The Pew Charitable Trusts

What the President has done is epic. He has permanently protected a highly vulnerable ecosystem roughly the size of Connecticut, creating a “blue park” right off our most populous coastline. And he increased by twenty times the amount of ocean habitat in federal waters of the continental U.S. that has this sort of complete protection.

And what an ocean gem the canyons and seamounts are! As the science shows, America’s newest monument is exceptional for its diverse and abundant deep sea corals—73 different species in all, and for its marine mammals, like squid-eating sperm and beaked whales, as well as its seabirds and sea turtles. And, of course, fish also abound here, from bizarre deep sea species that you’ve never heard of to those kings of the food chain: sharks, tunas, and swordfish.

The monument encompasses three submarine canyons, Oceanographer, Gilbert, and Lydonia. They are exceptionally large and plunge deeper than the Grand Canyon. The canyons contain particularly abundant and diverse coral colonies and have a rich history of scientific exploration.

(Article continued in the right side of the page)

Question for this article:

If we can connect up the planet through Internet, can’t we agree to preserve the planet?

(Article continued from the left side of the page)

The four seamounts, Physalia, Bear, Retriever, and Mytilus, are the only ones in the U.S. Atlantic. They rise up through the water column and function like ocean oases in the deep sea. The monument covers nine different major, interconnected habitat types, from the continental shelf edge down to the abyssal plain. Because of this mosaic of habitats, and the complex geologic features and current patterns, the area is a biologic hotspot, providing food, shelter and nursery habitat for many species. This will benefit wildlife populations in the region as a whole, including commercially valuable fish and crustacean species. 

Short videos featuring the canyons and seamounts and their wildlife can be seen here and here.

If we are going to protect and restore our oceans, and rely on them as a source of food and enjoyment even as pressures and threats mount, the type of bold, trailblazing action that the President took today is exactly what we need. In particular, we need to build ecological resilience and protect genetic diversity to insulate marine populations against climate change and ocean acidification. With New England ocean waters already undergoing some of the greatest temperature increases on the planet, this action is none too soon. Last week, the nations and organizations at the IUCN World Conservation Congress urged world leaders to protect 30% of the planet’s oceans by 2030. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is an excellent step in answering this call. 

So, Mr. President, thank you!  

And a huge thanks as well to Senator Blumenthal and the Connecticut Congressional delegation for being steadfast champions of the monument.

Finally, the designation would not have happened but for the outpouring of support from a broad and diverse coalition. Over the last year, 300,000 citizens have voiced support to the Administration. They have been joined by Mystic and New England Aquariums, along with a host of other aquarium and marine institutions, over 145 scientists, 100 New England businesses, dozens of state and federal elected officials, dozens of state and national religious groups, fishermen, marine mammal research groups and whale watch operators, dive groups, and conservation organizations. 

A day to celebrate indeed!

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

USA: Standoff at Standing Rock: Even Attack Dogs Can’t Stop the Native American Resistance

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan from Democracy Now (reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works)

The Missouri River, the longest river in North America, has for thousands of years provided the water necessary for life to the region’s original inhabitants. To this day, millions of people rely on the Missouri for clean drinking water. Now, a petroleum pipeline, called the Dakota Access Pipeline, is being built, threatening the river. A movement has grown to block the pipeline, led by Native American tribes that have lived along the banks of the Missouri from time immemorial. Members of the Dakota and Lakota nations from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation established a camp at the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers, about 50 miles south of Bismarck, North Dakota. They declare themselves “protectors, not protesters.” Last Saturday, as they attempted to face down massive bulldozers on their ancient burial sites, the pipeline security guards attacked the mostly Native American protectors with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction, fighting for clean water, protection of sacred ground and an end to our fossil-fuel economy.

democracynow
Video at Standing Rock

Standing Rock Sioux set up the first resistance encampment in April, calling it Sacred Stone. Now there are four camps with more than 1,000 people, mostly from Native American tribes in the U.S. and Canada. “Water is Life” is the mantra of this nonviolent struggle against the pipeline that is being built to carry crude oil from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois.

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day. Together with Laura Gottesdiener and John Hamilton of “Democracy Now!,” we spent the morning filming interviews. That afternoon, delegations walked down the road to plant their tribal flags in the path of the proposed pipeline. Many were shocked to see large bulldozers actively carving up the land on Labor Day weekend.

Hundreds of people, mostly Native Americans, lined the route, yelling for the destruction to stop. A group of women began shaking the ranch fencing, and without much effort it fell over. The land defenders began pouring through. Several young men from the camp arrived on horseback.

(Article continued in right column)

Questions for this article

Indigenous peoples, Are they the true guardians of nature?

(Article continued from left column)

The bulldozers retreated, but the security guards attempted to repel the land defenders, unleashing at least half a dozen vicious dogs, who bit both people and horses. One dog had blood dripping from its mouth and nose. Undeterred, the dog’s handler continued to push the dog into the crowd. The guards pepper-sprayed the protesters, punched and tackled them. Vicious dogs like mastiffs have been used to attack indigenous peoples in the Americas since the time of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistadors who followed him. In the end, the violent Dakota Access guards were forced back.

This section of the pipeline path contained archeological sites, including Lakota/Dakota burial grounds. The tribe had supplied the locations of the sites in a court filing just the day before, seeking a temporary halt to construction to fully investigate them. With those locations in hand, the Dakota Access Pipeline crew literally plowed ahead. Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault told us on the “Democracy Now!” news hour: “They were using the dogs as a deadly weapon. … They knew something was going to happen when they leapfrogged over 15 miles of undisturbed land to destroy our sacred sites … they were prepared. They hired a company that had guard dogs, and then they came in, and then they waited. And it was —by the time we saw what was going on, it was too late. Everything was destroyed. They desecrated our ancestral gravesites. They just destroyed prayer sites.”

At the camp, we interviewed Winona LaDuke, an Ojibwe leader from the White Earth Nation in northern Minnesota. She recently led a campaign that succeeded in blocking another pipeline that threatened the White Earth’s territory. She commented on North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s support of suppression of the Standing Rock protests: “You are not George Wallace, and this is not Alabama. This is 2016, and you don’t get to treat Indians like you have for those last hundred years. We’re done.”

The battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline is being waged as a renewed assertion of indigenous rights and sovereignty, as a fight to protect clean water, but, most importantly, as part of the global struggle to combat climate change and break from dependence on fossil fuels. At the Sacred Stone, Red Warrior and other camps at the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers, the protectors are there to stay, and their numbers are growing daily.

North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The story of the first Spanish renewable energy cooperative

.. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ..

An article by Ula Papajak on 350.org (reprinted in accordance with the “mission of building a global movement to solve the climate crisis”)

In 2010 Gijsbert Huijink and a group of friends launched a campaign to find 350 people to join the first renewable energy cooperative in Spain. Six years later Som Energia reached 27,000 members, 37,000 customers and is now generating enough renewable energy to meet the annual needs of 3,200 families!

energy
Photo from Som Energia Cooperativa

Huijink explains how, despite the legislative barriers and the financial crisis, he and a group of friends managed to run a successful cooperative.

SOM Energia produces electricity from its own renewable energy sources (sun, wind, biogas, biomass) and is funded with voluntary financial contributions of its members. The cooperative is organized horizontally, with local autonomous groups in towns and cities who determine the future of the organization. It currently sells its electricity at cost price lower than the price offered at the conventional electricity market. The price of each kWh is half a cent cheaper than the market price.

How did it all start?

– When I moved to Spain with my wife in 2005, we bought an old farm – explains Huijink. – We were so surprised how difficult it was to get the electricity there. At first we were looking into installing solar panels and batteries – says Huijink – then we became interested in putting up a small wind turbine next to our house. But then we got to legislation, the economic and practical parts and it all started getting more complicated…after some time I realized that it would be much easier to invest with other people in a bigger wind turbine. I started to look for a cooperative in Spain and couldn’t find any existing one, so I decided to set one up. I shared the idea with friends and before I knew it, lots of friends were interested.

In December 2010 157 people joined together with the common aim to produce and consume their own renewable energy. In January 2011 they started to work on applying for all necessary permits and by October the service was launched, initially for just a few hundred clients.

Overcoming the odds

– Finally a first PV project of 100 kW on an industrial building in Lleida was selected – explains Huijink. The installation started in early 2012 and by April it was fully functional. Consequently 8 other projects were selected and realized, leading to a portfolio of 732 kWp solar and a 500 kW biogas plant. The total investment amounted to 3.5 million Euro. Around 1100 of our members participated. Collecting the money commenced in June 2012 and within 10 months we were fully funded. All these investments kept us pretty busy until the beginning of 2014. At that time we were less than 10 people in the office for all the tasks at hand. Then, the government decided that Spain had produced more than enough renewable projects and could not afford paying any more feed in tariffs (FIT), so no more projects were going to be accepted, leading to a full stop in new project development.

(Continued on right side of page)

Click here for a French version of this article or here for a Spanish version.

Question for this article:

Are we making progress in renewable energy?

(Article continued from left side of page)

Also, despite an unanimous parliamentary decision to quickly implement self-consumption legislation four years later, no practical solutions have been implemented. There is a small legal loophole so it is not impossible but the reality is that only a few hundred pioneers have put solar panels on their roof. The government tactics have been to delay coming up with anything practical and fair. So we are currently looking at legal proposal #3, with no net balance and a ´solidarity tax which makes you pay for all kWh you produce yourself, even the ones you use yourself instantaneously and so never enter the grid! So the solution that has created so much enthusiasm and citizen participation in other countries was firmly closed for our members.

With the two main mechanisms for increasing renewable production basically blocked, we started to look around for inspiration at other initiatives in Europe.

We were looking for a model that would allow us to:

– Set up new renewable energy projects (and not re-finance existing projects)

– Give a minimum return to our investors

– Not promise things we cannot deliver

– Make it easy for people to participate

– Create confidence for people to invest in projects with a life-time of 25 years (this in a Mediterranean country where 5 years is about as long term as things get)

– Allows everybody in Spain to participate, not just the people who have their own house and have a suitable roof for solar PV, but also people who rent an apartment with little practical possibilities to set up their own project

The project also started in the middle of the financial crisis though – he adds. – There was no access to banking financing of any sort whatsoever. Banks were simply closed. They were trying to manage existing business and reduce their losses and they weren’t interested in new business, certainly not a cooperative business without any financial background or any numbers behind it. However, because of those barriers we quickly realized that if anyone is going to make it work, it has to be us. We couldn’t rely on any support but therefore we became very focused and strategic.

We came up with our own model. With a mix of solar, wind and hydro projects around Spain we tried to simulate the typical demand curve of our members as well as possible. As there was no FITs, all projects had to compete in the ´market´ and even paid a 7% electricity production tax to the state. Only the most efficient projects guaranteed that the money invested would return, so we were looking at a solar project in the south of Spain with 1600 full-load hours, in very windy spots with over 2700 full-load hours and re-powering of hydro projects where the civil works were still in a good state and we ´only´ had to put in a new turbine.

Any of the 27,000 members we currently have can participate by making a special, 25-year loan to the cooperative at zero interest. Your investment is in the system and not in one specific technology. We all share the advantages and disadvantages of each project. For each 100 Euro participation, participants will get an estimated 170 – 200 kWh/year compensated on their electricity bill with Som Energia. Participants keep paying taxes, grid access fees, etc.

Simply get started!

– We do realize that our model isn’t easily replicable. There are many ways to do this successfully. But my advice to anyone who wants to start their own cooperative is simply get started! Find your own focus – whether it’s an energy efficiency project, local production, biomass or solar. Keep in mind that banks are paying historically low interest rates at the moment and that many people lost their trust in the banking system but they still wish to invest their savings in meaningful projects and get started!

(Thank you to Kiki Chauvin, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Europe, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Kenya: Construction of Wangari Maathai Institute starts

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from the Presidential news service of Kenya, PSCU, published by Standard Digital

Kenya has started to build an ultramodern centre at the University of Nairobi in memory of Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai. President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday laid the foundation stone for the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies at the university. The institute at the university’s Upper Kabete campus will be a global centre of excellence in environmental governance with linkages to peace and democracy. It aims to create a culture of peace through transformation leadership in environmental governance.

kenya
President Uhuru Kenyatta views a model for the new Wangari Maathai Institute Complex during the laying of the Foundation stone of the Institute, Upper Kabete, Nairobi County. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

The President said Prof Maathai had a vision to establish such an institute before she died and it was an honour for the university to host the institute. “Before her death, Wangari had conceived the idea of establishing the institute and shared the idea with the university leadership and her friends across the world,” he revealed.

Mr Kenyatta said Maathai’s legacy will live on long after her death. He said the environmentalist was the best role model for all Kenyans who want to contribute to the progress of the country. “I am encouraged to learn that this institute is already playing a critical role in reducing conflicts in communities by involving women in green energy technology, and in environmental conservation,” said the President.

Construction of the institute, which will cost Sh1.4 billion, will be funded by the Government and the African Development Bank.

After laying the foundation stone, Kenyatta joined students in one of the lecture halls at the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences. He urged the students to shun tribalism and work together as Kenyans to achieve their dreams. The President asked the students to abandon tribal organisations and instead yearn for higher national ideals of progress and unity. “The most important thing is for each one of you to get a job after graduating, and that will not be determined by where you come from,” he said.

Question for this article:
Africa, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Three Colombian women tell us why preserving seeds is an act of resistance

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Fernanda Sanchez in Rabble (reprinted by permission)

Protection of native seeds is growing strong in Colombia. Colombian women are preserving seeds from multiple threats such as mining, free trade agreements, agrochemicals, hybrid and transgenic seeds among others. Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo spoke with three women from three different provinces in Colombia about how being a seed guardian is an act of resistance, promotes food security and maintains cultural identity.

seeds
Photos provided by the women in the article: (left: Alba Portillo; right: Velma Echavarría)
Click on photos to enlarge

Tulia Álvarez is a 70-year-old smallholder farmer and a seed guardian in Colombia. Her family has lived all its life in the countryside where Álvarez learned how to raise animals and cultivate the land. Life in the cities scares her. She prefers to stay away and travels occasionally to Duitama and Bogotá to sell food that she grows at her farm. Álvarez sells carrots, corn, beans, cilantro, quinoa, amaranth, lettuce, chard, peas and native seeds.

“Our seeds are the most important for our food security and food sovereignty; if we don’t take care of our seeds we won’t have food,” Álvarez told rabble. When asked why women become seed guardians, she responded that women are traditionally responsible for the family orchards and they are concerned about providing food to their families.

There are several women’s organizations protecting seeds in Boyacá such as San Isidro, Asociación de Mujeres Presente y Futuro, among others. “Seeds are sacred. It is why we have to protect them and love them. If there is abundance of seeds and we waste them, they will be gone… like a child that is reprimanded and never comes back.”

While Álvarez is preserving seeds in Boyacá, thousand of kilometers south of Colombia, Alba Portillo is doing the same with other women.

Portillo is 32 years old and was born in Yacuanquer, a small town located near the Galeras Volcano. Yacuanquer is a Quechua word that means sepulchre of the Gods.

Her parents are farmers. She was raised by a family, which has the tradition to talk in the kitchen while making meals on a wood stove with food they grew and harvested such as beans, corn, squash, arracacha and cilantro.

“In my opinion each afro-Colombian woman, female farmer or Indigenous woman who decides to plant native seeds is a seed guardian,” Portillo told rabble.

Being a seed guardian is more than a job, it is her vocation. When she was growing up, Portillo observed that the landscape of the territory she calls home was dramatically changing. Famers had less water and food. She also encountered classmates at school who thought that kids from the countryside were poor and fools.

(The article is continued on the right side of this page)

Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

(This article is continued from the left side of the page)

Later on she came to the conclusion that a lot of people in the cities don’t value farmers who grow their food. “Farmers’ work is underpaid and not appreciated. Then, I reflected that food is life’s centre and without seeds food won’t exist. If seeds are gone it will be the extinction of a millenary culture, identity, memory and our roots,” Portillo says.

Portillo belongs to an organization called Red the Guardianes de Semillas de Vida were she promotes growing food in a sustainable way and without agrochemicals. “If farmers don’t have seeds, water and land, they lost everything. Losing the seeds is like being orphans of history.”
Nariño is the centre of agro diversity on the Ecuadorian Andes region. Nowadays Portillo’s organization has 1,200 seed varieties such as quinoa, amaranth, native corn, beans, peas, flowers, tomato and different kinds trees.

“Seeds are sacred. They have lived here and evolved during 11,000 years — in relation to human beings — as part of our family, who has the food has the power,” says Portillo.
Velma Echavarría is an Embera Chamí Indigenous woman who belongs to the Cañamomo-Lomaprieta Reserve in Riosucio (Caldas). She and approximately 40 other women take part of the network that guards seeds.

Cidra, yacón, sagún, cassava, beans, corn, medicinal plants and timber-yielding trees are some of the seeds they protect. Their task is not easy.

“Corn seeds are the most threatened and more difficult to preserve because transgenic corn crop is legal in Colombia and there is not protection from the state for afro-Colombians,

Indigenous and farmers who want to preserve native seeds; on the contrary, regulations pose a risk to native seeds and rural communities,” Echavarría told rabble.

On her reserve, Echavarría and other people offer educational sessions to their community about the harmful impact of transgenic seeds on their food sovereignty and food security.

Thanks to their work, Cañamomo-Lomaprieta Reserve was declared a Transgenic Free Territory in 2009.

Preserving seeds is crucial to Indigenous autonomy. “The relation is direct and essential. This is an act of resistance and autonomy because we pursue the good life for communities within the ancestral territory, prevent displacement and the lost of cultural identity.”

Fernanda Sánchez Jaramillo is a Colombian journalist, has amaster’s degree in international relations and is a social service worker. During her time as a social service worker, she was elected as a human rights representative for people of colour at BCGEU union in Vancouver. Fernanda has 20 years of experience. She worked for traditional media sucThree Colombia women tell us why preserving seeds is an act of resistanceh as El Espectador and El Tiempo in her country but now she is a freelancer for online media in Colombia, Spain and Latin America.

She wrote seven books about women. In 2014, she received the Colibrí award in Barrancabermeja (Colombia) for her contribution to peace through journalism. Nowadays, she is a Carter’s Center fellow and a law student. She is a feminist.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Developing Nations Seek Tax Body to Curb Illicit Financial Flows

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Thalif Deen for the Inter Press Service News Agency (reprinted by permission)

Despite Western opposition, the 134-member Group of 77 is continuing to pursue a longstanding proposal for an inter-governmental UN-affiliated tax body aimed at combating corporate tax dodging and curbing illicit financial flows, including money laundering and off-shore banking.

taxes
Click on image to enlarge

The proposal has already been shot down twice by Western nations, first, at the Financing for Development (FfD) conference in Addis Ababa in July last year, and more recently, at the 14th session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 14) in Nairobi last month.

But a G77 source told IPS the proposal is very much alive – and still on the negotiating table.

The proposal by the G77, the largest single coalition of developing countries, calls for the establishment of a standing intergovernmental group of experts to address tax issues, including international tax issues, and to assist countries better mobilize and employ fiscal revenues.

This includes international initiatives to counter tax avoidance and tax evasion, as well as strengthening the capabilities of developing countries to address tax avoidance and tax evasion practices.

In Africa alone, the estimated resources leaving the continent, in the form of illicit financial transfers, was nearly 530 billion dollars between 2002 and 2012, according to UNCTAD.

The three key causes of illicit financial outflows are largely commercial tax evasion, government corruption and criminal activity, including money laundering.

Bhumika Muchhala, Senior Policy Researcher, Finance and Development Programme, at the Malaysia-based Third World Network (TWN), told IPS the key reason why the global tax system has failed is that more than half of the world’s countries are currently excluded from the decision making processes on global tax standards.

“We in global civil society hope that the G77 and China, both in New York and Geneva, will continue to persistently raise the need for an intergovernmental tax body, under the auspices of the United Nations, in every relevant conference, negotiation and discussion within the UN, regional commissions, Bretton Woods Institutions and other international institutions, particularly the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which has a monopoly role in global tax governance by developed country donors”, she said.

“We know by examples of history that truly meaningful reforms and establishment of new bodies that break old rigid structures of imperialism, exclusion and unequal power requires a long arc of time and needs to be pushed through every open crack in the status quo by repeated and persistent demands by a group that takes the leadership to exert collective pressure,” she added.

As to whether the G77 and China will bring up the proposal again, Muchhala said, the hope is they will continue to persistently bring it up in every possible space, conference and discussion.

Dr Manuel Montes, Senior Advisor on Finance and Development at the Geneva-based South Centre, told IPS the proposal was meant to create an intergovernmental process, whose deliberations would have brought up in the agenda issues of interest to developing countries.

(Article continued in the right side of the page)

Question for this article:

Can UN agencies help eradicate poverty in the world?

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

(Article continued from the left side of the page)

Right now, he said, agenda-setting is made in OECD, which the G20 countries commissioned to put out the 15 action items under Base Erosion and Profit Shifting work.

The G77 proposal did not survive the Nairobi outcome even though there is this text that allows UNCTAD to work on tax issues as a matter of research, including assistance to developing countries to design and implement policies and actions aimed at improving the efficiency of trade transactions as well as the management of transport operations.

Additionally, it should also continue to cooperate with member States in implementing ASYCUDA, the automated system for customs data, and work on taxation as it relates to investment policy.

The upgrading of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters to an intergovernmental level was the last outstanding item that prevented agreement at the FfD conference in Addis Ababa.

“The developed countries, led by the US, blocked the proposal,” Dr Montes said.

The OECD dominance in this regard could have been mitigated somewhat if the UN process in tax cooperation had been upgraded to an intergovernmental level, as proposed in the Addis Ababa conference.

The OECD secretariat “reports” to its member states, and changes in agenda have to be first accepted by its member states, even though it has been making a lot of effort increasing the participation of developing country officials and the UN– but by invitation.

The OECD would still be an important and perhaps a dominant player in such a UN process, but it would not be the sole source of the intergovernmental agenda and norm setting, he declared.

Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre who participated in UNCTAD 14, told IPS the developing countries under G77 and China succeeded in defending their development interests and in obtaining a renewed mandate for UNCTAD to continue their work.

“They had to face major developed countries and their groupings that were quite insistent on narrowing the scope of UNCTAD’s future work and thus the scope of the UN.”

As a result, he said, there was unfortunately no mandate for the UN to set up an inter-governmental group on how to deal with tax issues as the developed countries prefer to use their group, the OECD to make decisions on issues like tax evasion and tax havens.

There are other examples in the areas of trade, debt and finance where the outcomes could have been much better but were instead disappointing.

Nevertheless the renewal of UNCTAD’s mandate for its next four years work was an achievement of UNCTAD 14, given the shaky state of North-South cooperation on global economic issues, said Khor.

Prerna Bomzan, Policy Advocate for LDC Watch, representing the 48 least developed countries (LDCs), told IPS: “Given its historic role in contributing to defining the LDC category, we welcome the re-statement of UNCTAD’s mandate to strengthen its focus on the trade and development needs of LDCs. This is in accordance with the Istanbul Programme of Action and other relevant outcomes on LDCs.”

However, she said, this mandate must be further strengthened, focusing on building consensus with development partners so that they deliver on their key long-standing commitments to LDCs, such as 100 per cent duty-free-quota-free market access on a lasting basis; simpler and preferential rules of origin: a meaningful service waiver and eliminating domestic cotton subsidies”.

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Rennes, France: 210 000 inhabitants move towards food self-sufficiency!

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from Positivr (translated by CPNN)

Food self-sufficiency is not a utopia, it is a realistic and necessary goal! Following the example of Albi , now a second large French city has also recognized and ’embarked on an ambitious civic and ecological transition program. Here is a close up of this exemplary initiative!

Rennes
Video of food self-sufficiency of Albi

The city following the example of Albi is Rennes. In order to ensure there is never a lack of food, to support the local economy and to ensure healthy food for their children, the community of Rennes voted last June 27 for a proposal that could change the lives of its 210 000 inhabitants! [Editor’s note: For the presentation and vote on this question, see item 101 by M. Theurier on the agenda of the Council of Rennes, June 27 as shown in the preceding link. The text of his presentation may be found here.]

To achieve food self-sufficiency, the municipality has set aside an area of ​​agricultural production estimated at 30 000 hectares. But this is not the only thing needed.

Elected officials have decided to promote organic urban agriculture, agro-ecology, permaculture, Associations for the maintenance of peasant agriculture (Amap) , education in healthy eating … and collaboration of all people!

Indeed, food security is only possible with a massive participation of citizens. These will be invited and encouraged to be informed consumers … but also to become themselves conscientious producers!

The program is also supported by the organization “Incredible Edible” of Rennes whose ambition is the reconquest by the inhabitants of urban areas. Objective: everyone starts to grow organic fruit and vegetables wherever possible and to support a free collective redistribution of production!

Eat well and never lack food while respecting the planet … these simple concrete decisions adopted in the anonymity of city councils are worthy of international conferences!

In the video of Albi (see above) we see deliberations that could change everything (the tone is very serious … but it’s because the subject is too!)

“Think globally, act locally”: the famous expression of Jacques Ellul takes on its meaning. If change is to come, it must come from the bottom up. Albi and Rennes lead the way. Talk to your mayors and enlarge the movement!

(Click here for the original article in french)

Question for this article:
Europe, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Trees talk to each other and recognize their offspring

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Derek Markham in Treehugger

The Lorax might have spoken for the trees, but it turns out that trees can speak for themselves. At least to other trees, that is. While it’s not news that a variety of communication happens between non-human elements of the natural world, the idea of mycelia (the main body of fungi, as opposed to the more well-known fruiting bodies – mushrooms) acting as a sort of old-school planetary internet is still a fairly recent one, and may serve as a spore of a new breed of forestry, ecology, land management.

Simard
TED talk by Suzanne Simard

Paul Stamets famously posited that “mycelia are Earth’s natural Internet,” and a variety of research has borne out that concept, but like many things we can’t see an obvious connection between, most of us tend to ignore the micro in favor of the macro. And when it comes to conservation and natural resources, our systems may be falling prey to the lure of reductionist thinking, with a tree being considered merely a commodity in the forest, which can be replaced simply by planting another tree. In fact, many reforestation efforts are considered successful when a large number of trees are replanted in areas where clearcutting has rendered large tracts of land treeless, even if those replanted trees are essentially turning a once diverse forest into a monocropped ‘farm’ of trees.

(Article continued in the right column)

Question for this article

When you cultivate plants, do you cultivate peace?

(Article continued from the left column)

A recent talk at TEDSummit 2016 by forest ecologist Suzanne Simard seems to put the lie to the idea that a forest is merely a collection of trees that can be thought of as fully independent entities, standing alone even while surrounded by other trees and vegetation. As Simard, who has put in about three decades of research work into Canada’s forests, puts it, “A forest is much more than what you see.”

“Now, we know we all favor our own children, and I wondered, could Douglas fir recognize its own kin, like mama grizzly and her cub? So we set about an experiment, and we grew mother trees with kin and stranger’s seedlings. And it turns out they do recognize their kin. Mother trees colonize their kin with bigger mycorrhizal networks. They send them more carbon below ground. They even reduce their own root competition to make elbow room for their kids. When mother trees are injured or dying, they also send messages of wisdom on to the next generation of seedlings. So we’ve used isotope tracing to trace carbon moving from an injured mother tree down her trunk into the mycorrhizal network and into her neighboring seedlings, not only carbon but also defense signals. And these two compounds have increased the resistance of those seedlings to future stresses. So trees talk.” – Simard

I’m a bit of a fungi nerd, and with good reason, as fungi are one of the key elements of life on Earth while being one of the least understood, at least in terms of the sheer volume of varieties and how they interact with the rest of the systems on the planet. I’m currently reading Radical Mycology: A Treatise on Seeing and Working With Fungi, which is an incredible foray into the world of fungi, and was kind of blown away by the fact that of an estimated 15 million species on Earth, some 6 million of them may be fungi, and yet only about 75,000 of them, or 1.5%, have been classified as now. This means that the study of mycology is one of the areas of the life sciences that is still relatively untapped, and because of what we’re now starting to learn about fungal networks and mycelial ‘internets,’ could be a key element in our journey to a more sustainable world.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT