Latest Resources
11 September 2025
Farmers’ rights, farmer seed systems under threat by Enhancement of Multilateral System of Access...
ACB, as part of a broader collective, has submitted a letter to the African government officials who will be negotiating on proposals to amend the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) at its next Governing Body meeting in Lima, Peru, in November 2025. Thank you very much to those who […]
1 September 2025
South Africa’s plant breeders’ rights laws undermine farmers’ rights to seed and lock out farmer-...
In this briefing, we deal mainly with the Regulations made in terms of the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Act, No. 6302, on 13 June 2025, and particularly the exemptions to breeders’ rights, through the lens of understanding the impact on the realisation of farmers’ rights to seed and farmer-managed seed systems (FMSS). We discuss the […]
26 August 2025
Historic turning point for South Africa’s Pesticide Policy Framework: Department of Agriculture h...
Press release: UnPoison Network Stellenbosch, 26 August 2025 In a landmark moment for agricultural reform and environmental justice, the National Department of Agriculture convened a historic Colloquium on Pesticide Policy Framework last week, bringing together government departments, farmer associations, scientists, civil society, industry, labour, farmworkers, and human rights organisations in an unprecedented, multi-sectoral dialogue on […]
26 August 2025
We don’t need genome editing to ensure Africa’s food sovereignty
Will stringent regulation safeguard Africa’s food systems? Across Africa, powerful corporate, donor, and government interests are driving a rapid push to deregulate genome editing in agriculture. Countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso have adopted product-based guidelines that exempt many genome-edited crops from GMO regulation if no foreign DNA is present in […]
13 August 2025
MLS of ABS under ITPGRFA threatens farmer seed and national sovereignty: Letter to African negoti...
Click here for the French version. The African Centre for Biodiversity is appealing to civil society in Africa, and in particular, farmers’ organisations, to please sign onto our letter to African government officials who will be negotiating on proposals to amend the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) at […]
11 August 2025
Agricultural policy reform in South Africa
Addressing animal welfare within a just, agroecological food systems transition This discussion document, written by Linzi Lewis on behalf of Humane World for Animals, South Africa (SA), highlights the need for greater attention to be given to industrial animal agriculture. As one of the major drivers of current socio-ecological crises, it demands further consideration within […]
11 August 2025
Objection and biosafety concerns relating to GM canola field trial application
The ACB has lodged an objection to an application for field trials in South Africa of genetically modified (GM) canola; namely, event DP73496, which confers tolerance to glyphosate-based herbicides. Since there are 154 known species of Brassicaceae in South Africa that can potentially cross-fertilise with canola, genetic contamination is a significant risk. This is aided […]
21 July 2025
First of its kind, South African pesticide compendium documents widespread and worrying human and...
Within the South African context of regulatory failure, antiquated legislation, and co-optation by industry, a considerable number of agrotoxins classified as highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) – many of which are banned in regions such as the European Union (EU) – as well as other noxious chemicals, have become ubiquitous in our environment, our food and […]
21 July 2025
South African Compendium on pesticides is a comprehensive database listing over 100 papers produc...
A user-friendly resource for researchers, advocates, and civil society ACB is proud to release a collation of the past two decades of research done on pesticide use in South Africa, in the form of a searchable (and downloadable) database, below. For the first time, this extensive body of scientific evidence of the harm caused by […]
26 June 2025
ACB 2024 Annual Report: Our Year in Review
In 2024, the ACB collaborated with progressive civil society networks to advance an integrated agroecological response to the biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable food systems issues of our time, intensifying our efforts to conceptualise what just and sustainable food systems could look like in the future. We actively participated in several policy processes in South […]