Latest Resources
2 December 2022
Civil society and farmer network organisations call on the South African Department of Agricultur...
This is the main thrust of the open letter we sent to Minister Thoko Didiza today, with Biowatch, Environmental Monitoring Group, the Association for Rural Advancement, and Tshintsha Amakhaya. So far 50 organisations have endorsed the letter. This letter is intended to push the Department to engage systematically and meaningfully with CSOs, including household and […]
2 December 2022
EXTRACTIVE TOURISM. A case study of biodiversity conservation in Tanzania, a legacy of gross huma...
This paper is part of a series of briefings by the African Centre for Biodiversity in the lead-up to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in December in Montreal, where a new deal – the Global Biodiversity Framework – will be finalised. In this paper, we deal with […]
20 October 2022
Global Biodiversity Framework stuck in a paradigm of catastrophic growth: what future for Africa?
A series on the GBF by Linzi Lewis and Mariam Mayet As part of a series of briefings by the African Centre for Biodiversity in the lead up to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to be held in December in Montreal 2022, this briefing examines the contradictory nature […]
14 September 2022
Breaking from the rest of the continent
South Africa moves towards recognising smallholder farmers’ Right to Seed and farmer seed systems – but the road ahead is still long By Linzi Lewis, ACB Research and Advocacy Officer & Mariam Mayet, ACB Executive Director After much anticipation, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) published draft Regulations to implement the Plant […]
30 August 2022
Regulations of Plant Improvement Act and Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2018
Please find here ACB’s comments to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development regarding the recently published Regulations to implement the Plant Improvement Act 2018, and the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2018. The Department has taken important steps in these Regulations to ensure that certain groups of farmers are exempt from these corporate […]
30 April 2022
Is the end of the State of Disaster the beginning of mandatory vaccines in South Africa?
The endless extensions to the State of Disaster, initially declared two years ago, has provoked criticism from medical experts and calls for its end from public-interest groups and an increasingly fed-up citizenry. Recently, the government announced that the restrictions were finally to be lifted. However, during this time, a draft amendment to the National Health […]
28 April 2022
The financialisation of malaria in Africa: Burkina Faso, rogue capital & GM /gene drive mosq...
(Veuillez cliquer ici pour lire en français) The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hereby publishes a new research paper, titled, “The Financialisation of malaria: Burkina Faso, Rogue capital & GM/gene drive mosquitoes.” This paper seeks to understand the financialisation of malaria as a vehicle for rogue capital in a context of a weakened state (through […]
14 April 2022
International day of Peasants’ Struggles 17 April 2022 – UN expert applauds vital rol...
GENEVA (14 April 2022) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, draws attention to the struggles of peasants and others which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic alongside the rise of extrajudicial violence against peasants and armed conflicts around the world. On the International Day of Peasants’ Struggles, he […]
8 March 2022
Coalition demands a ban of Bt Cowpea in Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries
A coalition of non-governmental organisations, farmer groups and research experts from various African countries call on the Nigerian government to revoke the permits granted by Nigeria’s National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, for the commercial release of genetically modified (Bt) Cowpea (PBR-Cowpea). This call was made yesterday in […]
22 September 2021
African Social movements rise up against the UNFSS and the African Union’s blueprint for corporat...
On 16 September, African social movements came together to discuss the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), which takes place on the 23 September. On this day, the African Union (AU) will be presenting an African “common position”. As social movements in Africa we reject both the UNFSS and the AU’s position, which allegedly […]