Greens/EFA hearing: How is biodiversity feeding the world?

Members of the European Parliament Sandrine Bélier, Martin Häusling and Eva Joly - organised a workshop on biodiversity and its relation to global food security, climate change and development.

Among the invited speakers were Olivier Deleuze (Director of the UN Environment Programme), Jean-Pierre Halkin (Head of Unit in DG EuropeAid, European Commission), Antje Kolling (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements EU Group), and Bob Brac (Biodiversity: Exchange and Diffusion of Experiences).

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that 75% of the biological diversity found in agriculture over the last century has been lost in the past 50 years, since food production has become increasingly industrialised. European seed marketing laws and agricultural research focused on gene technology have accelerated this process.

This is closely connected to the problem of world hunger whose roots lie not in a shortage of available food but rather in distribution problems, i.e. obstacles preventing poor rural and urban populations from accessing jobs and income. Consequently, given that the cause of famine does not lie in food shortages, new technologies cannot contribute to overcoming the problem.

For more information:

The Greens/European Free Alliance

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements EU Group (IFOAM EU)

Biodiversity: Exchange and Diffusion of Experiences (BEDE)

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