Seedling July 2009 ( 6.7 MB)
( 2.6 MB)
Type: Whole issue
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Click here to download the whole Seedling in one file, and read the Editors "In this issue...."

The other 'pandemic' (488 kb)
Type: Editorial
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Recent figures show that today more people than ever - over one billion - are permanently hungry. It is shocking to realise that 80% of these people are either farmers or farm labourers. Yet those in power continue to support an international food system that doesn’t feed the hungry but, instead, deprives even more people of adequate food.

L’autre 'pandémie'
Type: Editorial
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

La crise alimentaire qui a explosé en 2007-2008 n’a pas disparu.  Les Nations unies estiment que plus d’un milliard d’humains souffrent aujourd’hui en permanence de la faim.

Translated into: English  

Saying 'no' to mining ( 2.0 MB)
Type: Article
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Over the last decade communities around the world have become more vociferous in their opposition to large mining projects that destroy their way of life, damage biodiversity and exacerbate the climate crisis. In this special feature, activists from India and Ecuador describe their struggles.

Endangered tribals up against the terror of Vedanta
Type: Sub article
Author: Living Farms Date: July 2009

The British mining company Vedanta is pushing ahead with plans for an open-cast mine in the Indian state of Orissa to extract bauxite from the Niyamgiri Hills, a forested mountain range inhabited for centuries by the Dongaria Kondh tribal people. The move is being fiercely resisted by the Dongaria Kondh, who regard the mountain peak as sacred. They are receiving widespread support, at home and abroad, for their struggle.

Translated into: français  

Une tribu menacée d’extinction en butte au terrorisme de Vedanta
Type: Sub article
Author: Living Farms Date: July 2009

La compagnie minière britannique Vedanta poursuit son plan de mine à ciel ouvert dans l’état indien d’Orissa : elle veut extraire de la bauxite des collines de Niyamgiri, un massif montagneux couvert de forêts et habité depuis des siècles par la population tribale des Dongria Kondh. Les Dongria Kondh, pour qui le sommet de la montagne est sacré, opposent une résistance farouche à Vedanta. Ils sont très largement soutenus dans leur lutte en Inde et à l’étranger.

Translated into: English  

Yours today, 'mine' tomorrow!
Type: Sub article
Author: Kanchi Kohli Date: July 2009

The story of mining in Niyamgiri is one of people’s truth, bureacratic lies and judicial failure. It is deeply enmeshed in India’s growth agenda and is symbolic of a world view which puts industrial expansion first, even if it will ravage lives, cultures, livelihoods and natural spaces.

Translated into: français  

Vedanta en Orissa : attention, terrain miné !
Type: Sub article
Author: Kanchi Kohli Date: July 2009

L’exploitation minière dans le Niyamgiri est une longue histoire de vérité populaire, de mensonges de la bureaucratie et d’échec de la justice. Elle est inextricablement mêlée au programme de développement de l’Inde et est le reflet d’un monde qui mise tout sur l’expansion industrielle, dût-elle dévaster les vies, les cultures, les moyens de subsistance et les espaces naturels.

Translated into: English  

Mining law in Ecuador is anti-constitutional
Type: Sub article
Author: Gloria Chicaiza Date: July 2009

Ecuador has based its economy on the extraction of natural resources. This process has arbitrarily used, abused and polluted the environment, and established an economic model characterised by external dependence, growth in internal and external debt, and the destruction of ecosystems. The recent introduction of the Ecuadorian Mining Law inaugurated a new episode in this story, which has characterised Ecuador since the country was founded: namely, basing economic development on a single commodity and degrading its natural resources.

Translated into: français  

La loi minière en Équateur est anti-constitutionnelle
Type: Sub article
Author: Gloria Chicaiza Date: July 2009

L’Équateur a fondé toute son économie sur l’extraction des ressources naturelles. Cette politique a exploité l’environnement de manière arbitraire, a provoqué abus et pollution et établi un modèle économique qui repose sur la dépendance vis-à-vis de l’étranger, la croissance des dettes intérieure et extérieure, et la destruction des écosystèmes. La récente adoption de la loi minière équatorienne inaugure un nouveau chapitre dans une histoire absolument typique de l’Équateur depuis sa création : le fondement de son développement économique sur une seule matière première, sur fond de dégradation des ressources naturelles.

Translated into: English  

Roger Moody
Type: Sub article
Author: Interview by GRAIN Date: July 2009

Roger Moody is an expert on mining and mining transnationals. He has spent years uncovering the facts about how mining companies operate. He edits the Mines and Communities website, which exposes the social, economic and environmental impacts of mining, particularly as they affect indigenous and traditional communities.

Translated into: français  

Roger Moody
Type: Sub article
Author: Interview de GRAIN Date: July 2009

Roger Moody est un expert sur l’exploitation minière et ses transnationales. Il a passé des années à démasquer les façons d’agir des compagnies minières. Il est l’éditeur du site Internet Mines and Communities, qui expose les conséquences sociales, économiques et environnementales de l’exploitation minière, et en particulier la façon dont celle-ci affecte les communautés indigènes et traditionnelles.

Translated into: English  

The struggle against IPR in the Andes (423 kb)
Type: Article
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

In Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru, initiatives have been taken recently that raise hopes that mechanisms might be created to stop the further privatisation of knowledge and life. So far, progress has been disappointing, with fundamental problems remaining unsolved. Once again, it is up to local people to defend knowledge and biodiveristy against destruction and privatisation.

Translated into: français  

La lutte des pays andins contre les DPI
Type: Article
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

L’Équateur, la Bolivie et le Pérou ont récemment pris des mesures qui laissent espérer que certains dispositifs pourraient empêcher la poursuite de la privatisation des savoirs et du vivant. Jusqu’à présent, les progrès ont été décevants. Des questions fondamentales demeurent en suspens. Cette fois encore, c’est aux populations locales qu’il revient de défendre les savoirs et la biodiversité contre les risques de destruction et de privatisation.

Translated into: English  

Empty coasts, barren seas ( 1.1 MB)
Type: Article
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Gaining access to the territorial waters of many developing countries has been a goal of expanding global capital in recent years. It comes in different forms and under different names but with the single objective of extracting profits for big business. The European Union (EU) is at the forefront of this drive. Through fisheries partnership agreements (FPAs), the EU is able to sustain its lucrative fishing industry and export its overfishing problems to other parts of the world – Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific – often with disastrous consequences for local small fishers. Now the EU is testing Asia’s waters. In this article, GRAIN investigates how Asia’s small fishers stand under the proposed EU–ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA).

Translated into: français   Español

Côtes dévastées et mers stériles
Type: Article
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Au cours des dernières années, l’une des cibles de l’expansion du capital mondial a été l’accès aux eaux territoriales de nombreux pays en développement. Cet objectif a beau revêtir des formes différentes et porter plusieurs noms, il est pour les industriels d’extraire un maximum de bénéfices. L’Union européenne (UE) est en tête du mouvement : Les accords de partenariat de pêche (APP) permettent à l’UE de maintenir une industrie très lucrative et d’exporter ses problèmes de surpêche dans d’autres parties du monde - l’Afrique, les Caraïbes, le Pacifique - provoquant souvent pour les pêcheurs artisanaux locaux des conséquences désastreuses. L’UE a maintenant décidé de tester les eaux asiatiques. Dans cet article, GRAIN enquête pour savoir ce que signifie pour les pêcheurs artisanaux le projet d’accord de libre-échange (ALE) EU-ASEAN.

Translated into: English   Español

Costas vacías, mares estériles
Type: Article
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Lograr el acceso a las aguas territoriales de numerosos países en desarrollo ha sido uno de los objetivos de la expansión mundial del capital en los últimos años. Ese proceso ha revestido formas diferentes y ha adquirido distintos nombres, pero todo con el mismo objetivo de obtener ganancias para las grandes empresas. La Unión Europea está al frente de esta ofensiva. Los acuerdos de colaboración en el sector pesquero permiten a la Unión Europea mantener su lucrativa industria pesquera y exportar sus problemas de sobrepesca a otras partes del mundo —África, el Caribe, el Pacífico— provocando a menudo consecuencias desastrosas para los pequeños pescadores locales. Ahora la Unión Europea está incursionando en las aguas asiáticas. En este artículo, GRAIN analiza la situación de los pequeños pescadores de Asia frente al tratado de libre comercio (TLC) propuesto entre la Unión Europea y los países de la Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN).

Translated into: English   français  

Xue Dayuan (777 kb)
Type: Interviews
Author: Interview by GRAIN Date: July 2009

Xue Dayuan is Chief Scientist for Biodiversity at the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences in China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. He also works as a Professor and Chief Scientist at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing. He played a leading role in developing the National Programme for Conservation and Use of Biological Resources and China’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

Affirming Life and Diversity. Rural Images and Voices on Food Sovereignty in South India (131 kb)
Type: Sprouting up
Author: review by GRAIN Date: July 2009

These four DVDs, which contain 12 films with a total length of almost six hours, are a veritable treasure trove. They are the result of a seven-year collaboration between the UK-based IIED, the Deccan Development Society of Andhra Pradesh, India, and women’s sanghams (Indian village associations of the poor).

African agricultural policies and the development of family farms ( 1.1 MB)
Type: Sprouting up
Author: JINUKUN Date: July 2009

JINUKUN, the national network for the sustainable management of natural resources in Benin, is the country’s focal point of COPAGEN, West Africa’s coalition to protect African genetic resources.

Translated into: français  

Seeds of information (857 kb)
Type: Sprouting up
Author: compiled by GRAIN Date: July 2009

Includes: Andrés Carrasco's findings on the herbicide glyphosate and it's impact on amphibians - "I expected a reaction but not such a violent one"; Ghana’s farmers are among the latest victims of trade liberalisation; Brazil has become the world’s biggest consumer of pesticides; and, in early June 2009 a Constitutional Court judgement on genetically modified organisms in South Africa brought victory to the NGO Biowatch South Africa in its nine-year struggle for constitutional justice.

Update on swine flu (141 kb)
Type: Homepage
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Following our report on the swine flu outbreak in April 2009, we provide a short update here (July 2009).

Translated into: français  

Grippe porcine - mise à jour
Type: Homepage
Author: GRAIN Date: July 2009

Suite à notre rapport sur l'épidémie de grippe porcine en avril 2009, voici une brève mise à jour sur le sujet (Juillet 2009).

Translated into: English