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New from GRAIN Rural poor devasted by top-down global response to bird flu The top-down global response to bird flu is devastating small farmers and perpetuating the bird flu crisis. A new report from GRAIN [1] looks at the power politics behind this global response and its consequences for the poor. This report, building on a previous GRAIN report on bird flu from February 2006 [2], finds that the agencies of the UN at the forefront of the international response to the virus, both WHO and FAO, are pursuing top-down strategies for wiping out bird flu that in turn are wiping out the foundations for long term, pro-poor solutions in the process. The report highlights how the FAO has turned its back on family poultry farming and contrasts the WHO's lack of concern for the impact of its bird flu measures on small farmers. The global approach to control bird flu co-ordinated by these UN agencies excludes local communities from decision-making and does not consider the dynamics of the disease in local contexts. There's no nuance, no understanding of people's needs and, worst of all, no appreciation of the capacity and knowledge that farmers have for managing this virus. The strategies are being diligently carried out by governments, many of them neglectful if not hostile towards small farmers and the poultry biodiversity they sustain, with disastrous consequences for rural people. The report maintains that the solution being proposed - a complete shift to factory farming - merely brings us back to the source of the current bird flu crisis.
=========================================================== NOTES:
[1] GRAIN, 2006, "The top-down global
response to bird flu," Against the grain, April 2006,
[2]
GRAIN, 2006, " Fowl play: The poultry industry's central
role in the bird flu crisis". February 2006,
We have also compiled a bird flu resource page with relevant
publications, articles and links - visit Abbreviations: UN - United Nations, WHO - World Health Organisation, FAO - Food and Agriculture Organisation
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