GRAIN in Latin America – a long time growing
GRAIN's presence in Latin America goes back to the mid 1980s, when it and other Latin American organisations (CET in Chile, AS-PTA in Brazil and others) began organising the first seminars on agricultural biodiversity in Chile, Brazil and Colombia. That was the beginning of a long-lasting dialog with Latin American organisations, with which solid ties of cooperation and joint action have now been achieved.
|
In the mid 1990s, GRAIN began a joint project with the Uruguayan REDES-AT, to publish the magazine Biodiversidad, sustento y culturas (‘Biodiversity, food and culture'). GRAIN's Nelson Alvarez and REDES' Silvia Ribeiro teamed up to consolidate the publication as a reference point on agrobiodiversity issues throughout the continent. The magazine's advisory council, comprising eight people representing struggles and activities in various countries, provides an informal network through which material has been exchanged since circulation began.
GRAIN currently has two staff members in Latin America. Carlos Vicente, ethnopharmacist turned communications specialist, is responsible for the information work in Latin America. Working in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Carlos now produces Biodiversidad with REDES. Carlos also facilitates the translation of documents into Spanish and contributes information and training for the work of many networks promoting and nurturing biodiversity for people's livelihoods. On the other side of the Andean cordillera, in Chile, Camila Montecinos focuses on GRAIN's work on rights and trade in March 2002. Her rôle is to provide information and analytical support for the myriad forms of social reaction against privatisation, and to analyse the impact of trade agreements in the region, especially as they affect peasant communities and indigenous peoples.
GRAIN also has two Latin American members on its board. Silvia Rodríguez Cervantes has just retired from her university post in Costa Rica, but not from campaigning. She is currently active in the fight against Costa Rica's entry into the Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties. Freddy Delgado, meanwhile, is the Director of AGRUCO in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he trains agronomists in a variety of research projects and supports the struggles of peasant communities in the high plains.
|
One increasingly important focus for GRAIN and other NGOs in the region is the dumping of genetically modified crops and products in Latin America, including the genetic pollution of maize now taking place in Mexico (see p 4). The social campaign against the Free Trade Area for the Americas is another core area for action. Areas of concern being expressed by the growing movement against ‘free' trade zones include the appropriation and privatisation of traditional knowledge through intellectual property rights, the imposition of transgenic crops and food – even in food-aid programs – throughout Latin America, mega-projects for integration, and the vulnerability of small farmers.
GRAIN is aware that only by bringing agriculture back under the local control of those who have made it possible in the first place can we assure the maintenance of biodiversity and of peoples' food sovereignty. For that reason, another core activity will be to continue supporting local initiatives for the management, conservation and research of biodiversity by local communities themselves. GRAIN sees its role as providing support mainly through information and analysis. Together with many other organisations in the region, we also anticipate participating directly in capacity-building activities with local groups when invited.