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Los dibujos de esta
Editorial pertenecen a
Eric Drokker, activista europeo.
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EDITORIAL
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Dear friends,
During 2003 and 2004 multinational grain companies specialising in
the export of genetically engineered and conventional soy bean and
its by-products have developed strategies to co-opt environmental
groups and small producers´ organisations in South America. This
strategy has been used in order to achieve their objective of
producing the amount of soy that, according to their own predictions,
the world market will need over the coming years. In Argentina, the
projected increase in cultivation for export to 100 million tons
will mean an expansion of another 10 million hectares of soy
monoculture. The effects of this will include deforestation,
contamination of water resources, the expulsion of small farmers and
devastating impacts on ecosystems.
This March, The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is organising an
international meeting in Foz de Iguazu (Brazil) where they are
proposing to launch a project called “Sustainable Soy”. The
organising committee of this meeting, called the ‘Round Table on
Sustainable Soy’, are corporations
such as Unilever, the soy company Amaggi , which is owned by the
governor of Mato Grosso, the Swiss supermarket chain COOP, the Dutch
development agency CORDAID and Fetraf-Sul/CUT, the Federation
of Small Farmers from southern Brazil. The
support of some civil society groups will allow this project, and
through it, the corporations involved in the production and trade of
soy to achieve their objectives and legitimise them at the same
time.
To expose the strategy of the multinationals and to discuss real
sustainable alternatives, the GRR, Rural Reflection Group (Grupo
Reflexion Rural), with the support of MOCASE (the
Peasant Movement of Santiago del Estero)
are calling for a counter conference to be held in Puerto Iguazu on
the same date.
We invite you to pledge your support by adding your signature to
the attached statement for this initiative and email it to iguazu@grr.org.ar.
For further information on this issue please visit our website www.grr.org.ar.
GRR, December
2004
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