Latest Resources

10 February 2023
JUDGMENT ON ACB’S HIGH COURT REVIEW OF MONSANTO’S ALLEGED DROUGHT TOLERANT GM TRAIT PENDING
On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, 7-8 February, the ACB’s case was heard in the High Court. Five years earlier, the ACB lodged the application for this review, to overturn the decisions of the South African Executive Council (EC): Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Act, the GMO Appeal Board, and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and […]

19 September 2022
ACB comments on the Draft White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South AfricaR...
Please find here ACB’s submission to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment regarding the recently published Draft White Paper on Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biodiversity, 2022. The current conservation model and practice are founded on historical colonial practices, entrenched in apartheid, of over-exploitation and exclusion of African people. Historical inequalities have remained […]

7 September 2021
The African Union Green Recovery Action Plan: Securing Africa’s ecological future or deepening im...
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 […]

22 January 2021
Tanzania cancels GMO trials again: Urgent need to uphold ban, disrupt false solutions and neo-col...
In a totally unexpected move, the newly appointed Tanzania Agricultural Minister, Prof Adolf Mkenda, in mid-January 2021 announced the cancellation of research trials involving genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country and the decision to put in place extra biosafety scrutiny of imported genetically modified (GM) seed. The decision was taken by the Minister in […]

5 June 2020
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 […]

29 May 2019
ACB’s Commentary on An Africa-Europe Agenda for Rural Transformation: Report by the Task Force Ru...
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 […]

29 January 2018
Comments on the Competition Amendment Bill 2017
ACB has responded to the Economic Development Department (EDD) call for comments on the Competition Amendment Bill 2017. The amendments aim to strengthen the powers of the competition authorities to proactively investigate and develop remedies to deconcentrate markets. Although we do not agree with EDD’s entire approach to concentration (for example, that concentration and economies […]

20 May 2014
The Consumers Have a Right to say NO! No GMO in our Bread!
Dear CEO Pick n Pay Mr Richard Brasher, CEO Spar Mr Wayne Hook, CEO Shoprite/Checkers Dr. Whitey Basson, CEO Woolworths Mr Ian Moir, CEO Tiger Brands, Mr Peter Matlare, CEO Premier Foods Mr Tjaart Kruger, MD FoodCorp, MD Mr CB Sampson, We, the undersigned members of the public, are outraged to learn that our daily […]

4 June 2013
Tiger Brand snubs consumers on GM Purity baby food concerns
Baby FoodTiger Brands has snubbed South African consumers who petitioned the company about high levels of genetically modified (GM) maize found in Tiger Brand’s Purity baby food products. In April 2013 GMO watchdog organisation, the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), sent two Purity products to an independent GMO testing laboratory to test for the presence […]

4 December 2012
ACB Comments on National Strategy on Agroecology
The Department of Agriculture is in the process of developing a Strategy for Agroecology for South Africa, with the aim of achieving “an ecologically, socially and economically sustainable agro-ecology sector that contributes towards poverty alleviation, job creation, food security, economic development, climate change mitigation and adaptation”. It is not clear where the drive for this […]