Latest Resources
3 March 2025
On-going assaults on our food system and peoples’ health
Legal loopholes to allow continued use of highly hazardous pesticides, GM crops On the 27th of February, the ACB submitted substantive objections to the South African government’s attempt to backtrack on its commitments to phase out highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs), including glufosinate ammonium (GLA), by way of spurious and potentially unlawful “derogation” regulations. The rise […]
5 February 2025
Financing biodiversity in the face of capitalist extractivism and ecocide
ACB comments on the South African government’s Biodiversity Finance Plan Humanity is facing a multi-faceted crisis of civilisation, with environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Fundamentally, this crisis is caused by capitalist dynamics of accumulation and extraction, and the associated use of the environment as a free or cheap resource and service provider. Effective biodiversity restoration […]
30 January 2025
“Palesa’s Brave Discovery” violates children’s and consumers’ rights
SAPToA reports CropLife and Food for Mzansi for weaponising children in comic book & for false and dangerous advertising Press release by the South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins The South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins (SAPToA) has submitted substantive complaints to the South African Human Rights Commission and the Advertising Regulatory Board, calling for […]
25 November 2024
Greenhouse gas emissions in the South African food system: Integrated and transformative response...
Climate change is set to wreak havoc on South Africa (SA)’s agri-food system. Increasing temperatures, lower and more erratic rainfall, and more extreme weather events will characterise the climate in Southern Africa over the next decades. This poses challenges for food production and food security. At the same time, SA’s agri-food system is one of […]
1 November 2024
Civil society coalition says: Heads must roll for Terbufos regulatory failure
Press release: South African People’s Tribunal on Agrotoxins 31 October 2024 A coalition of civil society organisations and trade unions working together to expose the harmful reality of pesticides in South Africa mourns the tragic deaths of six children — Monica Sebetwana, Ida Maama, Isago Mabote, Njabulo Msimanga, Katlego Olifant, and Karabo Rampou — in […]
5 July 2024
Stop chemical war on bodies of farm workers, farm dwellers and their children!
Statement rejecting the Draft Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents published on 5 April 2024, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act No 85 of 1993) On 5 May 2024, the Democratic Alliance (DA) staged a protest outside the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) headquarters in Johannesburg. As part of the political […]
16 October 2023
World Food Day 2023: Working towards a just food system for all
This World Food Day, marked annually on 16 October, we’re connecting the dots between agriculture, our wider food system and the multidimensional crises we face, which includes climate change. The industrialised food system, from agricultural inputs and production to consumption, transport and storage, feeds climate change, and climate change, in turn, impacts the food system, […]
28 September 2023
Just transition and adaptation in the food system: national policy dialogue
The National policy dialogue on a just transition and adaptation in the food system took place in Ekurhuleni, from 20-22 September. Organisations representing the labour movement, smallholder farmers, farm workers, labour tenants, informal traders, waste reclaimers, food and land justice organisations, civil society, and policymakers came together to discuss building a coordinated understanding and policy […]
21 August 2023
South Africa’s list of highly hazardous pesticides researched and published by the network Unpoison
UPDATE: On 21 February 2025, Unpoison SA published an update of the database of highly hazardous pesticides registered for use in South Africa that they initially published two years earlier. Click here to read the press release. Click here for the updated database. 21 August 2023 This publicly available list of Highly Hazardous Pesticides, hitherto […]
17 August 2023
South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins welcomes UN Expert’s assessment highlighting human ...
UPDATE: UN Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Dr Marcos Orellana, recently released his country visit report on South Africa. Read the report here. He will present the report, among others, at the 57th Human Rights Council Session in Geneva on […]