English
home
Von: "Matthias Reichl" <>
Betreff:
ETC Group: The Greed
Revolution. Mega Foundations, Agribusiness Muscle In On Public Goods
Datum: Mittwoch, 18. Jänner 2012 12:17
New Report from ETC Group
The Greed Revolution. Mega Foundations, Agribusiness
Muscle In On
Public Goods
Issue # 108
Free Download:
http://www.etcgroup.org/en/node/5303
ETC Group
News Release
17 January 2012
Big
Agribusiness Influence Threatens to Override Public Interest in
Greed Revolution
A new 30-page report that documents the growing influence
of
agribusiness on the multilateral food system and the lack
of
transparency in research funding has been released today
by the
international civil society organization ETC Group. The
Greed
Revolution: Mega Foundations, Agribusiness Muscle In On
Public Goods
presents three case studies – one involving the UN Food
and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and two involving CGIAR
Centers
(Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research) – which
point to a dangerous trend that will worsen rather than
solve the
problem of global hunger. The report details the
involvement of, among
others, Nestlé, Heineken, Monsanto, the Bill & Melinda
Gates
Foundation and Syngenta Foundation.
“It is unacceptable that the UN is giving multinational
agribusiness
privileged access to alter their agricultural policies,”
said Pat
Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group, who has been
involved in the
field for 40 years. “It is ridiculous that the key
organizations
responsible for agricultural research have no credible
data on the
extent of corporate involvement in their work and that
CGIAR’s biggest
funder – at $89 million – is somebody called,
‘Miscellaneous!’
Governments and UN secretariats have forgotten that their
first task
is to serve the public – not the profiteers.”
The report shows that multinational corporations are now
seeing their
future profitability in “emerging economies,” and they
are finally
taking notice of the international institutions that have
been quietly
working throughout the global South for half a century.
However this
new interest in UN agencies is causing “mandate-muddle”
as companies
demand that policy be rewritten to better reflect their
interests,
including allowing privileged access to publicly held
germplasm.
Public institutions are tending to look the other way
when Big Ag
harms peasant agriculture.
“Public institutions related to food and agriculture are
mandated to
support the poor and hungry.
Governments need to address the big- and small-scale
conflicts of
interest, beginning with a long overdue investigation of
the links
between the international public and private sectors in
food and
agriculture. Based on our initial conversations with UN
officials
about this research, we are hopeful that this will
happen,” concludes
Mooney.
--
Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, 4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
Impressum in:
http://www.begegnungszentrum.at