Land deals in Africa

The International Institute for Environment and Development released in March a new report.

Land deals in Africa: What is in the contracts? Over the past few years, agribusiness, investment funds and government agencies have been acquiring long-term rights over large areas of land in Africa. Together with applicable national and international law, contracts define the terms of an investment project, and the way risks, costs and benefits are distributed. Who has the authority to sign the contract and through what process greatly influences the extent to which people can have their voices heard. Yet very little is known about the exact terms of the land deals. Drawing on the legal analysis of twelve land deals from different parts of Africa, this report discusses the contractual issues for which public scrutiny is most needed, and aims to promote informed public debate about them. More Information and Download: http://pubs.iied.org/12568IIED.html

Democratising agricultural research for food sovereignty in West Africa

Democratising agricultural research for food sovereignty in West Africa

Michel Pimbert, Boukary Barry, Anne Berson, Khanh Tran-Thanh http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/14603IIED.pdf

Published: Oct 2010 - IIED, CNOP, IRPAD, Kene Conseils, Centre Djoliba, URTEL

Areas: Mali, Africa (entire region)

Topics: Agriculture & Food, Participation

Language: English

This multimedia publication is available online only. A hardcopy version will be printed in early 2011.

This multimedia book reports on an initiative in West Africa that seeks to create safe spaces in which food providers and consumers can discuss how to build an agri-food research system that is democratic and accountable to wider society. An explicit aim of the entire process is to strengthen the voices and effectiveness of small-scale producers and other citizens in the governance of agricultural research as well as in setting strategic research priorities and validating knowledge. 

The book combines text, photos, video and audio recordings to describe the methodologies used in processes of deliberation and inclusion that involved small scale producers (farmers, pastoralists, fishermen and food processors) and holders of specialist knowledge on agricultural research. The policy recommendations that emerged out of two citizens’ juries and farmer led assessments of agricultural research are presented here along with some critical reflections on the process so far. The outcomes of these citizen deliberations have significant implications for current debates on the future of food and farming in West Africa.

Related:

Democratising agricultural research: 
An initiative that questions the often narrow interests of agricultural research. Focussing on four regions aiming to make the voices of small scale producers and other excluded citizens heard — and count — in the governance and process of agricultural research.

Making excluded voices count in food 

and agricultural policy making

http://www.excludedvoices.org/

THE JURY Farmers' reflections on the process and on their role as jury members Origins and design of the citizens' jury process - a brief history The work of the facilitators during the citizens' juries A member of the independent oversight panel assesses the process - Blandine Sankara, Burkina Faso The role of the press and other media in West Africa - before, during and after the citizens' juries See a number of videos :  http://iied.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc 01. Dr Samba Traoré, Director, Cinzana Research Station, Mali

04. Dr Amadou K. Coulibaly, Professor of Ecological Entomology, University of Mali, Katibougou

Seed variety loss seen hampering climate response

8-10 Sept 2009, Rome. Farmers in developing countries are losing traditional varieties because of growing corporate control of the seeds they plant, hampering their ability to cope with climate change, a London-based think tank said.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said in a report that the diversity of traditional seed varieties is falling fast and this means valuable traits such as drought and pest resistance could be lost forever. The report was issued ahead of the World Seed Conference at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. The World Seed Conference was intended to raise awareness of the importance of new plant varieties and high quality seed in this context and considers how governments can develop an enabling environment to encourage plant breeding and the production and distribution of high quality seed.

IIED partner organisations in China, India, Kenya and Peru participated in the research behind the report.The report said an international tready on the protection of new varieties of plants -- known as UPOV -- protects the profits of private corporations but fails to recognise and protect the rights and knowledge of poor farmers.

"Western governments and the seed industry want to upgrade the UPOV convention to provide stricter exclusive rights to commercial plant breeders. This will further undermine the rights of farmers and promote the loss of seed diversity that poor communities depend on for their resilience to changing climatic conditions." said project leader Krystyna Swiderska of IIED

Contributions from African researhers:

• Anticipated demands and challenges to plant breeding and related technologies into the futureMr. Marcel Busuma Kanungwe, Director, Pannar Seed Ltd. (Zambia)
• Experiences in KenyaMr. Evans Sikinyi, Head, Seed Certification and Plant Variety Protection, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)

Reference

• Conference website Press Release / Conference Outcome
• IIED 07/09 Seed industry ignores farmers’ rights to adapt to climate change
• SolveClimate 8/09 Scientists Warn International Seed Laws Are Stifling Crop Diversity
• Commodity Online 10/09 ‎Plant breeders should focus on food security

Related:

Solving Kenya’s Food Crisis, One Indigenous Crop at a Time
Corn and Soy – Crops that Feed the World – Face Steep Drop Off As Climate Changes
Climate Change Could Devastate Latin America's Agriculture

Towards a global forest partnership

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) announced on 9 July 2008 the publication of the final report on the World Bank’s proposal for a Global Forest Partnership : ‘Towards a global forest partnership…consultation, assessment and recommendations’.

It is an emerging initiative that could pave the way for fundamental change in the way forests are managed, boosting efforts to fight both poverty and climate change. The World Bank-nurtured idea is of a global forest partnership that links local and global processes and promotes decision-making on the international stage that reflects the view and needs of local stakeholders such as forest dwellers.

IIED consulted widely on the bank’s idea. More than 600 forest experts responded to IIED’s survey or participated in focus groups in Brazil, China, Ghana, Guyana, India, Russia and Mozambique, as well as at international meetings.

The Gfp final report warns that the bank will have to heed the advice of hundreds of experts IIED consulted if it is to make a real breakthrough in tackling the problems of past decades and the weaknesses of typical international forest programmes.

The report identifies key features of the consultation that would make it a truly progressive global partnership and a new way for international forestry to work by:

• Focusing on empowering primary ‘stakeholders’ such as forest dwellers so that their rights, knowledge and needs are centre-stage.
• Greatly improving flows of finance to activities that support local needs alongside global public goods such as carbon storage.
• Interacting effectively with other sectors such as water and agriculture, where the underlying causes of forest problems – and the seeds of sustainable solutions – are often lodged.

Towards food sovereignty: reclaiming autonomous food systems

The current food crisis has revived the myth that the world doesn't produce enough food for its six billion people, according to Michel Pimbert, author of a new study that highlights local production as a potential solution.It is a "manufactured crisis" that is the outcome of a market-driven, global food system, says Pimbert, director of the agriculture and biodiversity programme at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

Towards Food Sovereignty is an online book with linked video and audio files. The first three chapters, available on the IIED website, begin to describe the ecological basis of food and agriculture, the social and environmental costs of modern food systems, and the policy reversals needed to democratize food systems. The video and audio clips show farmers, indigenous peoples and consumers all working to promote food sovereignty, it highlights the importance of locally controlled food systems to sustain both people and nature.

Published:May 2008 International Institute for Environment and Development

Reference: IPS News 24/05 Q&A: Lack of Food Is a "Persistent Myth"