Latest Corporate Expansion Resources

Global Biodiversity Framework stuck in a paradigm of catastrophic growth: what future for Africa?

A series on the GBF by Linzi Lewis and Mariam Mayet As part of a series of briefings by the African Centre for Biodiversity in the lead up to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to be held in December in Montreal 2022, this briefing examines the contradictory nature […]

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International day of Peasants’ Struggles 17 April 2022 – UN expert applauds vital roles of peasants and rural workers

GENEVA (14 April 2022) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, draws attention to the struggles of peasants and others which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic alongside the rise of extrajudicial violence against peasants and armed conflicts around the world. On the International Day of Peasants’ Struggles, he […]

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African Social movements rise up against the UNFSS and the African Union’s blueprint for corporate capture of our food systems

On 16 September, African social movements came together to discuss the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), which takes place on the 23 September. On this day, the African Union (AU) will be presenting an African “common position”. As social movements in Africa we reject both the UNFSS and the AU’s position, which allegedly […]

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The African Union Green Recovery Action Plan: Securing Africa’s ecological future or deepening imperialist extraction and inequalities?

Por favor clique aqui para Português Veuillez cliquer ici pour lire le texte français In July 2021 the African Union (AU) released a Green Recovery Action Plan for the continent, in the context of COVID-19 and climate change. The basis of the plan is that a “clean and resilient recovery in Africa will lead to […]

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SAN Petition to Stop ReconAfrica’s Drilling operations in the Okavango

Indigenous Peoples and Africans are under threat from Recon Africa and Big Oil and Gas Development Permits have been issued to prospect, drill and ultimately extract oil and gas over 8.75 million acres of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia and Botswana extending to the south eastern banks of the Okavango River and Okavango Delta. The […]

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Commentary submitted to FAO discussion on the AFCFTA as it relates to food and agriculture

On 2 June, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) submitted commentary on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) as it relates to food and agriculture, to a discussion hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Our concerns centred around three areas: the kind of food systems that in its […]

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Trends in extraction of biodiversity and genetic resources in east and southern Africa

Human health and wellbeing at great risk unless biodiversity and genetic resources extraction in Africa is halted “We need more genetic diversity, not less, and we need to vigorously defend genetic diversity as a common good, not something that can be extracted and privately profited from.” The ACB has collaborated with the Regional Network for […]

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The Monoculture effect and COVID-19

An ACB statement on Human Rights Day, 21 March The COVID-19 outbreak illustrates the complex interactions between deforestation, reduced biological diversity, ecosystem destruction, and human health and safety, in large part driven by the globalised agricultural and food system. Further, with the threats posed by climate change, we can expect greater exposure to existing and […]

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ACB’s Commentary on An Africa-Europe Agenda for Rural Transformation: Report by the Task Force Rural Africa

The European Union (EU) is in the process of defining a new set of priorities in the African agricultural and food sectors, through the proposed implementation of the EU-Africa Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs. Their Task Force for Rural Africa published a report with draft recommendations, which is oriented towards promoting the capitalist transformation […]

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Urgent call for African food sovereignty movements to connect with radical feminist movements on the continent

This article was first published on the Inter Press Service Agency, on March 8, as part of its coverage of International Women’s Day. Africa is facing dire times. Climate change is having major impacts on the region and on agriculture in particular, with smallholder farmers, and especially women, facing drought, general lack of water, shifting […]

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Media release: Civil society responds to BioAfrica Convention

For immediate release 28 August 2018 BioAfrica Convention: Open for the business of profit; closed to the questions that matter This week the biotechnology industry meets at the Durban International Convention Centre. Themed “Africa – Open for business” the Convention will explore various ways in which African biodiversity can be exploited for agriculture, industry and […]

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A tale of neo-apartheid plans, dodgy dealings and corporate capture: Government support to South African smallholders

Press Release from the African Centre for Biodiversity Johannesburg, Thursday 5 April 2018 Limited transparency, weak accountability, and capture by corporations and politically-connected individuals. These are features of the current South African landscape found in government’s smallholder farmer support programmes, according to a research report by African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) released today. The report, […]

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