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TWN Info
Service on Sustainable Agriculture European Parliament adopts text on biodiversity, calls for no releases of gene drive organisms On 6 October 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the role of development policy in the response to biodiversity loss in developing countries, in the context of the achievement of the 2030 Agenda (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2021-0404_EN.html) The resolution highlights, inter alia, the following points: * Agroecology’s unique capacity to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability; therefore considers that investment in locally adapted and resource-efficient crops, agro-ecology, agroforestry and crop diversification should be prioritised accordingly. * Use of genetically modified seeds are covered by patents which undermine small-scale farmers’ and indigenous peoples’ rights to save, use, exchange and sell their seeds, which is enshrined in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), and that genetically modified (GM) crops are often associated with major use of herbicides; therefore calls for the Commission and Member States to ensure that development aid is not used to promote GM technologies in developing countries. * Calls for the Commission to support farming that is in line with the provisions of the ITPGRFA, which safeguards the rights of small-scale farmers to maintain, control, protect and develop their own seeds and traditional knowledge (including financially, technically, in establishing seed banks in order to conserve and exchange traditional seeds, as well as within free trade agreements (FTAs)). * The Union for Protection of New Varieties of Plants system (UPOV system) does not suit developing countries’ interests where farmer-managed seed systems and the practises of saving, using, exchanging and selling seeds are prevalent; therefore urges the EU to promote the informal seed system and to reform the UPOV system so as to allow smallholder farmers to use saved seeds and by introducing a fair benefit sharing mechanism, and to support the development of locally adapted seed varieties and farmer-saved seeds. * Calls for the EU to support developing countries in their efforts to strengthen pesticide risk regulation, to evaluate and align their pesticide registrations with the FAO/WHO International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management, to strengthen research and education in alternatives to pesticides and to increase their investments in agro-ecological and organic practices and production. * Gene drive technologies, such as GM mosquitoes for the control of vector-borne diseases, pose serious and novel threats for the environment and nature, including irreversible changes to food chains and ecosystems, and losses of biodiversity, on which the world’s poorest depend for their livelihoods; therefore reiterates concern about the new legal, environmental, biosafety and governance challenges that might arise from the release of genetically engineered gene drive organisms into the environment, including for nature conservation purposes; reiterates that the free, prior and informed consent of IPLCs must be sought and obtained prior to the release of any technologies which may impact on their traditional knowledge, innovation, practices, livelihoods and use of land, resources and water; stresses that this must be done in a participatory manner involving all potentially affected communities prior to any deployment. * Given that gene drive technologies raise concerns about the difficulties of predicting their behaviour, and that gene drive organisms could become invasive species; therefore considers that no releases of genetically engineered gene drive organisms should be permitted, including for nature conservation purposes, in line with the precautionary principle. * Challenges raised in developing countries by intellectual property rights over genetic resources and traditional knowledge in terms of access to medicine, the production of generic drugs and farmers’ access to seeds. * The need to ensure that the benefits of genetic resources are shared fairly and equitably and the need for consistency between international agreements; therefore underlines that regulations adopted to protect genetic resources and the associated traditional knowledge must comply with international commitments on the promotion of and respect for the rights of indigenous peoples, stresses the need to disclose the origin of genetic resources during patent proceedings, and calls on the Commission to push for making WTO rules consistent with the Nagoya Protocol to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, in order to prevent biopiracy effectively. * Calls for the EU and its Member States to enhance the scrutiny of EU-funded projects and trade agreements in order to prevent and detect human rights abuses and allow for action against such abuses, paying particular attention to those projects and agreements that may affect the lands, territories or natural assets of indigenous peoples and local communities, including where the creation of a protected area, or the expansion of any existing such area, is involved; * The duty of states under international law to recognise and protect the rights of indigenous people to own, develop, control and use their communal lands and to participate in the management and conservation of their natural resources; therefore urges the EU to ensure that a rights-based approach is applied to all projects funded through official development assistance, with particular regard to the rights of pastoralists and IPLCs, including recognition of their right to self-determination and access to land rights as enshrined in human rights treaties, notably UNDRIP, and stresses the need for compliance with the principle of free, prior and informed consent, including in relation to all decision-making regarding protected areas, and the establishment of accountability, complaint and redress mechanisms for infringements of indigenous rights. These points are relevant to the current negotiations for a post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). With
best wishes,
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