The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. – Chinese Proverb By Bhavani Prakash What is this life if full of care, we have no time to plant a single tree? And what better way to express our gratitude to Mother Nature, compensate for [...]
By Bhavani Prakash Michelle Desilets is Founder and Executive Director of Orangutan Land Trust, a UK-based NGO which supports sustainable solutions for the long-term survival of the orangutan in the wild. She is also Founder of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation UK, and Member of the Board of Borneo Orangutan Survival Germany, which supports the largest [...]
By Bhavani Prakash In Dec 2010, 6000 genetically modified (GM) Aedes aegypti sterile male mosquitoes were released in the unhabited forests of Betong, Malaysia, according to the statement by the government run Institute of Medical Research (IMR). The GM mosquitoes were developed by the UK biotech company, Oxitec. The purported aim of the company is to work [...]
by Neo Chai Chin With palm oil companies slashing vast swathes of forest, the Dayaks of West Kalimantan are desperately struggling to save their ancestral lands and way of life On the porch of a wooden house deep in West Kalimantan, a shirtless man sits, staring out at endless rows of palm oil trees surrounding his [...]
By Bhavani Prakash A historic tribunal, the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) was held in Bangalore, India from 3rd to 6th December, 2011 to indict Agrochemical Transnationals (TNCs) for gross violations of human rights. Here is the trailer to the Tribunal: Video link here Victims and survivors of the pesticide industry from all over the world were [...]
By Bhavani Prakash Prof. Philip H. Howard, Assistant Professor at Michigan State University has created an interesting infograph on the Structure of the Seed Industry from 1996 to 2008. Not surprisingly, it shows an oligopolistic industry with a small number of large players such as Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta, Limagrain-Vilmorin, Land-O’Lakes, KWS and Bayer. As an [...]
By Bhavani Prakash Today sees an important report being released by Greenpeace Australia against GM wheat trials in the country. These trials are clearly, as the report alleges, a result of government-industry nexus, rather than for the interests of consumers or farmers. Featured here are the various GM campaigns in Australia and the people behind [...]
Lim Li Ching, who is co-author of the book “GMO Free” works with the biosafety and sustainable agriculture programs at Third World Network (TWN), an international NGO based in Malaysia. TWN covers developmental issues, policy advocacy work, climate change, WTO, Biosafety issues, to advance social justice with a pro-poor agenda. She is also a Senior [...]
By Bhavani Prakash Dr Vandana Shiva needs little introduction as a prominent environmental, social justice and anti-GM activist. In 2010, she received the Sydney Peace Prize and was named by Guardian UK in March 2011 as one of the top 100 women in the world. In the following interview, she explains the work done at [...]
by Bhavani Prakash Millions of people face the risk of being dislocated from their homes due to the effects of climate change. However there is no global framework to handle the humanitarian and political crisis when it explodes. Should UNHCR, UN’s refugee agency expand its definition to include “climate refugees” or do we need an [...]
