Sustainable World - A Global Initiative

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6 Apr 2005 14:10:29 -0000

 

Sustainable World - A Global Initiative

press-release

 

 

The Institute of Science in Society Science Society

Sustainability http://www.i-sis.org.uk

 

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ISIS Press Release 06/04/05

 

Sustainable World - A Global Initiative

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Please support this unique Global Initiative to make our

food production system sustainable, to ameliorate climate

change and guarantee food security for all

 

 

 

Sponsoring organisation (contributing £100 or more)

http://www.indsp.org/reg/ISPRegSponsorOrg.php

 

 

Sponsoring individual (contributing £25 or more)

http://www.indsp.org/reg/ISPRegSponsor.php

 

Endorsing organisation (no contribution or donating less

than £100) http://www.indsp.org/reg/ISPRegEndorseOrg.php

 

Endorsing individual (no contribution or donating less than

£25) http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SustainableWorldInitiativeS.php

 

 

 

 

Current food production system due for collapse

 

World grain yield fell for four successive years from 2000

to 2003, bringing reserves to the lowest in thirty years.

The situation has not improved despite a 'bumper' harvest in

2004, which was just enough to satisfy world consumption.

 

In too many food production regions of the world,

conventional farming practices have severely depleted the

underground water to the point where rivers and lakes have

dried out, topsoil has been eroded away, and wild life

decimated. At the same time, world oil production may have

passed its peak; oil price hit a record high of US$58 a

barrel on 4 April 2005, and is expected to top US$100 within

two years. This spells looming disaster for conventional

industrial agriculture, which is heavily dependent on both

oil and water. The true costs of our current food production

system are becoming all too clear (see Box 1).

 

 

__________

Box 1 True costs of industrial food production system

1 000 tonnes of water are consumed to produce one tonne of

grain

 

10 energy units are spent for every energy unit of food on

our dinner table

 

1 000 energy units are used for every energy unit of

processed food

 

17% of the total energy use in the United States goes into

food production & distribution, accounting for more than 20%

of all transport within the country; this excludes energy

used in import & export

 

12.5 energy units are wasted for every energy unit of food

transported per thousand air-miles

 

20% of all greenhouse gases in the world come from current

agriculture

 

US$318 billion of taxpayer's money was spent to subsidize

agriculture in OECD countries in 2002, while more than 2

billion subsistence farmers in developing countries tried to

survive on $2 a day

 

90% of the agricultural subsidies benefit corporations and

big farmers growing food for export; while 500 family farms

close down every week in the United States

 

Subsidized surplus food dumped on developing countries

creates poverty, hunger and homelessness on a massive scale

__________

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting our food production sustainable is the most urgent

task for humanity; it is also the key to delivering health,

ameliorating the worst effects of climate change and saving

the planet from destructive exploitation. The benefits of

sustainable food production systems are also becoming

evident (see Box 2).

 

__________

 

 

Box 2 Some benefits of sustainable food production systems

2- to 10-fold energy saving on switching to low-

input/organic agriculture

 

5 to 15% global fossil fuel emissions offset by

sequestration of carbon in organically managed soil

 

50 to 92% reduction in carbon dioxide emission from the soil

on switching from conventional tillage to no-till

agriculture

 

5 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission disappear with every

tonne of nitrogen fertilizer phased out

 

2-3-fold increase in crop yield using compost in Ethiopia,

outperforming chemical fertilizers

 

Organic farming performs as well or slightly better than

conventional industrial farming in the US

 

Small farms are 2 to 10 times more productive than larger

farms

 

Organic farms support significantly more birds, bats,

invertebrates and wild plants than conventional farm in

Europe

 

Organic foods contain more vitamins, minerals and other

micronutrients than conventionally produced foods

 

1 000 or more community-supported farms across US and Canada

bring $36m income per year directly to the farms

 

£50-78m go directly into the pocket of farmers trading in

some 200 established local farmers' markets in the UK

 

Buying food in local farmers' market generates twice as much

for the local economy than buying food in supermarkets

chains

 

Money spent with a local supplier is worth four times as

much as money spent with non-local supplier

__________

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Independent Science Panel (ISP) and the Institute of

Science in Society (ISIS) are launching this Sustainable

World initiative to engage with all sectors of civil society

to make our food production system truly sustainable.

 

We are convening a special ISP group on Sustainable

Agriculture (ISP-SA) - currently 18 strong - and a task

force of sponsoring organizations and individuals who will

make direct input into a comprehensive report on sustainable

agriculture at the end of a year. The report will include a

series of recommendations for government and inter-

governmental agencies on the social, economic and political

policy and structural changes needed to implement a

sustainable food production system.

 

ISIS and ISP are in a unique position to draw these

previously disparate strands together into a powerful

scientific and social consensus. We have scientists in many

disciplines working together and some of the scientists are

competent across several disciplines. A majority of the

scientists are already working with grass-roots

organisations and local communities in both the developed

and developing countries, or are supporting their activities

in other ways.

 

There will be a series of consultations (by post or e-mail)

with our sponsors, and two to three working conferences

throughout the year when the report is being drafted,

depending on finances available.

 

A major international conference to launch the final report

will take place in 2006. Copies of the report will be sent

to all relevant governments and inter-government agencies as

the start of a campaign to get the recommendations

implemented.

 

 

 

Sponsoring organisation (contributing £100 or more)

http://www.indsp.org/reg/ISPRegSponsorOrg.php

 

 

Sponsoring individual (contributing £25 or more)

http://www.indsp.org/reg/ISPRegSponsor.php

 

Endorsing organisation (no contribution or donating less

than £100) http://www.indsp.org/reg/ISPRegEndorseOrg.php

 

Endorsing individual (no contribution or donating less than

£25) http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SustainableWorldInitiativeS.php

 

 

 

 

Note

 

The Independent Science Panel consists of dozens of

prominent scientists from around the world concerned over

the commercialisation of science and the consequent failure

of the scientific establishment to protect the public from

the hazards of emerging technologies (

http://www.indsp.org/ISPMembers.php ) . The Panel published

its first report, The Case for a GM-Free Sustainable World ,

in June 2003, documenting scientific evidence of the

problems and hazards of GM crops as well as the proven

successes and promise of all forms of sustainable

agriculture. The report was widely circulated and adopted,

and translated into several major languages within a year.

It was presented in three successful briefings to government

and inter-governmental agencies in 2004, receiving

widespread coverage in the popular media.

 

At the European Parliament briefing in October 2004, ISP

delivered its strongest message: invest in sustainable

agriculture right now, as there is no other way to really

feed the world under global warming . The present initiative

is intended to take that message forward.

 

Partners and Sponsors

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Partners Third World

Network, Malaysia

 

Institute for Sustainable Development, Ethiopia

 

Ecological Society of the Philippines, The Philippines

 

 

Sponsoring Organisations

 

Elm Farm Research Centre, UK

 

Environmental Law Centre, UK

 

Fondation pour une Terre Humaine, France

 

GM-Free Cymru, UK

 

Green Network, UK

 

HDRA the organic organisation, UK

 

Institute of Ecological Studies, Ecuador

 

Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems, UK

 

Soil Association, UK

 

People's Biosafety Association, Finland

 

Union of Ecoforestry, Finland

 

Yoko Civilisation Research Institute , Japan

 

 

Sponsoring Individuals

 

Jill Evans MEP

 

Rt. Hon. Michael Meacher, MP, UK

 

Alan Simpson, MP, UK

 

 

Sustainable World Team

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President Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher Recipient of

the Right Livelihood Award, representative of the Ethiopian

government and African Union in championing the rights of

the poorest countries at the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic

Resources, and key negotiator of the Cartagena Biosafety

Protocol

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho Director of Institute of Science in

Society, Editor/Art Director of Science in Society

quarterly, pioneer of the physics of organisms and much

published author and researcher across many scientific

disciplines

 

 

Independent Science Panel - Sustainable Agriculture Group

 

 

 

 

Current Membership Prof. Miguel Altieri University of

California, Berkeley, world authority on agroecology;

General Coordinator of United Nations Development

Programme's Sustainable Agriculture Networking and Extension

Programme (SANE); Chair of NGO Committee of the Consultative

Group in International Agricultural Research (CGIAR);

formerly Technical Advisor of Latin American consortium on

Agroecology and Development (CLADEs); author and co-author

of many books and papers, much cited.

 

Prof. David Bellamy OBE Internationally renowned botanist,

environmentalist, broadcaster, author and campaigner;

recipient of numerous awards; President and Vice President

of many conservation and environmental organizations.

 

Dr. Elizabeth Bravo V. Co-founder of Acción Ecológica; part-

time lecturer at Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Ecuador;

researcher and campaigner on biodiversity and GMO issues.

 

Dr. Judy Carman A Director of the Institute of Health and

Environmental Research and Affiliate Senior Lecturer in

Department of Public Health, University of Adelaide; was

senior epidemiologist in the Communicable Disease Control

Branch of South Australian Department of Human Services.

B.Sc. Honours Organic Chemistry and Ph. D. Medicine in

nutritional biochemistry and metabolic regulation, also

Master of Public Health specialising in epidemiology and

biostatistics.

 

Dr. Phil Davies Director, Institute of Health and

Environmental Research Inc., Kensington Park, Australia;

application of cell culture technology to breeding wheat,

barley, oats, field peas and lentils.

 

Sue Edwards Editor of 7-volume Flora of Ethiopia and

Eritrea; Director, Institute for Sustainable Development,

Ethiopia, responsible for introducing organic composting

agricultural practice to Tigray, which has made organic

agriculture a major strategy for food security in Ethiopia.

 

Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher (see above)

 

Edward Goldsmith Recipient of the Right Livelihood and

numerous other awards, environmentalist, scholar, much

published author and Founding Editor of The Ecologist.

 

Dr. Ingrid Hartman Soil scientist and resource management

researcher, Humboldt University, Humboldt, Germany; member

of many important committees and networks, including the

United Nations Steering Committee of Nutrition, the African

Ecological Economic Society and German-Ethiopian Association

for the promotion of cultural exchange, and academic and

economic collaborations.

 

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho (See above)

 

Lim Li Ching B Sc. Ecology, M.Phil. Development Studies,

Researcher in Sustainable Agriculture and Biosafety, Third

World Network.

 

Martin Khor MA (Econ) University of Cambridge, and Master of

Economics (University Science Malaysia); Director of Third

World Network; prominent spokesperson and commentator at

World Trade Organisation; many books and papers published,

and widely quoted.

 

Dr. Eva Novotny Astronomer and campaigner on GM issues for

Scientists' for Global Responsibility.

 

Prof. Bob Orskov OBE Head of International Feed Resource

Unit, Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland, Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Polish Academy of

Science.

 

Dr. Michel Pimbert Agricultural ecologist and Principal

Associate, International Institute for Environment and

Development; worked previously with International Crop

Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in

India and World Wide Fund for Nature in Switzerland;

consultant and research partner for UN FAO, UN Research

Institute for Social Development, UNESCO and World

Conservation Union; author and editor of key books on

natural resource management, participatory action research,

political ecology of biodiversity, rights and culture.

 

Dr. Peter Rosset Agricultural ecologist and rural

development specialist; former co-Director of the Institute

for Food and Development Policy, Oakland, California, USA;

written extensively on the agronomic, ecological and

economic impacts of agricultural technology; A. B. Hon. From

Brown University, M.Sc. Applied entomology, Imperial

College, London, and Ph.D. Agricultural Ecology, University

of Michigan.

 

Prof. Peter Saunders Professor of Applied Mathematics,

King's College, London; author of close to 100 papers

including several books; researches on modelling complex

system, and in particular, problems in global warming and

diabetes.

 

Prof. Oscar B. Zamora Professor of Agronomy, Department of

Agronomy, University of the Philippines Los Banos College of

Agriculture, Laguna, The Philippines; served in his

government's delegation to the Conference of Parties of the

Convention on Biological Diversity and FAO International

Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and

Agriculture.

 

 

 

Web design and communication Andy Watton and Julian Haffegee

 

 

 

Researchers Sam Burcher , Rhea Gala and Andy Watton

 

Read the

extensive sources for this initiative here:

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/SustainableWorldInitiativeF.php

 

 

 

 

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