Latest Resources
3 August 2020
GMOs in South Africa 23 years on: failures, biodiversity loss and escalating hunger
Transition to agroecology urgently needed This paper aims to update the public on activities and increased concerns since South Africa first approved the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops before the turn of the century. We are now living through a global pandemic, pointing to the imbalanced relationship between humans and our life-supporting systems and […]
29 May 2020
Profiteering from health and ecological crisis in Africa: The Target Malaria project and new risk...
Cliquez ici pour le français The ACB shares this research paper with you, of the wave of ‘Trojan horse’ second-generation genetic engineering strategies targeted at, inter alia, malaria in Africa, at a time when the COVID-19 crisis is fracturing the myth that global health expertise is the domain of North America and Europe. Global health […]
28 May 2020
GM Fungi to kill Mosquitoes: Illegal experiments in Burkina Faso?
(Cliquez ici pour le français) Conducted silently and out of the public eye, a three-year experiment involving a new and potentially unsafe and risky genetically modified (GM) fungus to kill mosquitoes was performed in the village of Soumousso in Burkina Faso in 2019. When the study was published in a US scientific journal in May […]
14 May 2020
Advancing agroecology and farmer managed seed systems in Limpopo
At a dialogue on farmer managed seed systems and agroecology, held in Acornhoek, Limpopo on 20-22 January 2020, farmers and support organisations made clear that they want to see more government and policy support for agroecology and farmer managed seed systems, that they will work together to engage government in this direction, and that they […]
6 November 2019
Changing the discourse, policy and practice in farmer seed systems in Africa
The ACB is excited to share this new briefing paper (see below for English, French and Portuguese versions), highlighting key issues relating to recognition and support for farmer seed systems in Africa and beyond. Farmers’ seed constitutes the majority of seed used and exchanged. Crops produced from this seed contribute substantially to food and nutrition […]
5 November 2019
Farmer-Managed Seed Systems in Limpopo Province, South Africa – October 2019
The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) co-hosted two farmer exchanges in South Africa in 2019 – in Limpopo and Eastern Cape. The Limpopo meeting and field visit brought together smallholder farmers from Dzomo La Mupo and Mopani Farmers Association (MFA), and officials form Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (LDARD). Recognising that industrial agriculture […]
18 October 2019
Prudence versus Pressure at the Seed Treaty
Will the critical need to address digital sequence information break the Seed Treaty’s effort to fix its benefit-sharing system? It probably should. (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) In November 2019, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (“Seed Treaty”) will meet in […]
16 October 2019
The time is now! Recognise, affirm, and support farmer seed systems and agroecology in South Africa!
The deepening social, ecological and climate crises require urgent systematic restructuring of our food systems towards biodiverse, agroecological systems, which begins with seed. The African Centre for Biodiversity is excited to share with you groundwork to revive discussions on farmer seed systems in South Africa, in partnership with farmers and civil society. You can read […]
8 October 2019
Crunch Time for the Seed Treaty
A review of some outstanding issues in the negotiation Will the effort to fix ITPGRFA’s broken benefit sharing system measure up to expectations? (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) (Por favor, haga clic aquí para el español) This paper reviews the key outstanding issues that are expected to be discussed by the ITPGRFA Governing Body, […]
13 May 2019
Gene drive organisms: What Africa should know about actors, motives and threats to biodiversity a...
The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has produced a briefing paper in regard to a new and controversial genetic engineering (GE) technology to produce gene drive organisms (GDOs). These GDOs have been specifically designed to spread an engineered, ‘modified’ genetic trait such as sterility, with the potential to eradicate entire wildlife populations and even species. […]