Latest Resources
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
This publicly available list of Highly Hazardous Pesticides, hitherto shrouded in secrecy and closely guarded by the pesticide industry, and using the categorisation and criteria developed by the FAO/WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management, shows that there are 192 highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) registered and in use in SA. Of this, only 16 have partial […]
17 August 2023
South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins welcomes UN Expert’s assessment highlighting human ...
PRESS RELEASE: South African People’s Tribunal on AgroToxins The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxins, Dr Marcos Orellana, concluded his 12-day exploratory visit to South Africa with a press briefing held in Pretoria on 11 August 2023. He advised the South African government of his findings that, “to this day, the legacy […]
26 July 2023
High Court Decision on GM ‘bogus’ drought tolerant maize – significant blow to advancement of env...
— Press release — On 27 June 2023, Justice Tolmay handed down her judgment on the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB)’s application to review the decisions of South Africa’s Executive Council (EC): Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Act, the GMO Appeal Board, and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which approved Monsanto/Bayer’s genetically modified (GM) […]
26 May 2023
Assessment of support for agroecology in South Africa’s policy landscape
by Dr Stephen Greenberg (Veuillez cliquer ici pour le français) In March 2023, civil society organisations and farmers met with the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to share views on agroecology and to promote a call from 58 organisations for a national agroecology strategy. In support of the process, the ACB […]
22 May 2023
GM WHEAT OUT OF AFRICA!
Groundswell support for rejection of GM wheat approval in South Africa Johannesburg, South Africa, May 2023 (Haga clic aquí para ver en español) (Clique aqui para ver em português) From across South Africa, the rest of the African continent, and the world, 85 organisations representing millions of small-scale farmers, workers, and consumers have strongly supported […]
16 May 2023
The Last Seed – A film produced by Rosa Luxemburg
‘The Last Seed,’ a documentary film produced by Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in association with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), Biowatch, and Participatory Ecological Land Use, Management (PELUM) Tanzania, features ACB’s ED Mariam Mayet as one of the key voices advocating for seed sovereignty on the African continent. Through the lived experiences of African small-scale […]
10 May 2023
NO TO GM WHEAT IN SOUTH AFRICA!
We call on the government to reverse approval of GM wheat into our country Thank you to the 80+ organisations, listed below, who support this ACB submission to the South African Biosafety authorities, the Executive Council (EC): GMO Act, to review and reassess its decision to grant approval for the importation into South Africa of […]
8 March 2023
Resistance against “bogus” drought tolerant (DT) maize in South Africa: a snapshot of two decades...
In 2023, on 7-8 February, the ACB finally had a court hearing in the High Court in Pretoria, after five years of protracted legal proceedings since we lodged the application for a review. The aim has been to overturn the decisions of the South African Executive Council: GMO Act (EC), the GMO Appeal Board, and […]