greenpeace european unit towards sustainable agriculture marco contiero eu policy director –...
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Greenpeace European Unit
Towards sustainable agriculture
Marco Contiero
EU Policy Director – Agriculture
Greenpeace
European Parliament
8 December
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We need to feed the world
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Productivity narrative
World population 9.2 billion in 2050 Increasing meat in Emerging economies’ diets Increase in agricultural productivity is slowing down Natural resource constraints Climate change impacts limit food production
Solution: Increase agricultural productivity
How: 1. High yielding intensive farming
2. Modern technologies
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Sustainable Intensification=
Produce More From Less
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Problems
• How do we feed 9 billion people in 2050?
• How do we feed 7 billion people today?
• How to continually provide enough nutritious food to all?
• How to provide enough water, education, sanitation…?
• How to increase equality in distribution and access to food
Focus on yield fails to address political and economic issues preventing people access to safe and nutritious food.
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Current situation
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GMOs
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1. Risks
Prone to unintended and unpredictable effects
1. Complex regulation mechanisms of genes
2. Complex interaction with plants metabolism
3. Complex interactions plant‘s genes and its environment
4. Inserted genes may
- disrupt the plant's own genes - be unstable in their new environment- function differently than expected (producing diff. protein)
5. Fragments and Rearrangements
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2. Environmental impacts
Insect-resistant crops: 1. Toxicity to ‘non-target’ organisms and beneficial insects.
2. Threats to soil and river ecosystems
3. Development of insect resistance
Herbicide tolerant (HT) crops:1. Toxic effects of herbicides on ecosystems.
2. Increased weed tolerance to herbicide
3. Loss of native flora and other biodiversity.
4. Effects on soil-plant system (e.g. microbial community, manganese uptake).
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Intensive systems- Glyphosate
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Glyphosate resistant weeds
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Syngenta
BASF
DuPont
Monsanto
Bayer
Dow
Source: ETC Group
3. Corporate control
GM Crops market
100%
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Syngenta
BASF
DuPont
Monsanto
Other
Bayer
Dow
Syngenta
BASF
DuPont
Monsanto
Bayer
Dow
Global Agrochemical Market
Source: ETC Group
3. Corporate control
GM Crops market
100%
74%
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Owners of the Seed Market - 2006
Source: ETC Group
Other
SyngentaDuPont
Mon
sant
o
TOP
10
39%57%
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Other
Owners of the Seed Market - 2007
Source: ETC Group
TOP 10
SyngentaDuPont
Monsanto
47%
67%
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Owners of the Seed Market - 2009
Source: ETC Group
Other
TOP 10 Syngenta
DuPont
Monsanto
53%
73%
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Since 1960s:
8,000 crop varieties by CGIAR72,500 proprietary plant varieties1,900,000 1.9 million plant varieties bred by peasants
Science for diversity Vs.
Science for uniformity
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I. Agro-ecology• UN Report Human Rights Council [United Nations ,Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, 2011]
- Agroforestry
- Water harvesting
- Integration of livestock into farming systems- Integrated nutrient management
• J. Pretty analysis 286 sustainable agriculture projects (57 poor countries)
- Average crop increase 79 %
- Supply critical environmental services
• UNCTAD UNEP analysis [UNEP-UNCTAD, 2008] UK Foresight Report (40 projects, 20 African countries)
- Average crop increase in Africa 116% and
- Average crop increase in East Africa 128%
Can double food production in 10 years
4. Hinder sustainable solutions
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Nitrogen to the soil, Increased resilience, more carbon stored, increased maize yields by 280% in Malawi
Agroforestry – Evergreen AgricultureMaize fields in Tanzania - World Agroforestry Centre
Fai
dh
erb
ia a
lbid
a
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Biotechnology
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ModernBiotechnology
‘Smart Breeding’
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Flood-tolerant rice
Thrives after being submerged for 10 to 15 days
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Drought-tolerant rice
The Philippines – El Niño from December
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Saline-tolerant rice
Rice paddies near sea – Climate Change & Typhoons
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Holstein cow– 650 kg bodyweight– Typically produce 8,000
litres / year– Average 3.5 lactations– 2.5 tonnes purchased feed
per year– 1.5 acres of land– Feed brought to cow– Manure spread by machine
Source: Tom Malleson
Greenpeace European Unit
Grazing cow– 450kg bodyweight– Typically produce 5,000 litres
/ year– For 6 lactations or more– 0,5 tonnes purchased feed
per year– One acre of land– Harvests most of her own
feed– Spreads most of her own
manure– Virtually no diesel required! Source: Tom Malleson
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Thank
You!
www.greenpeace.eu