Latest Resources

9 February 2024

African Perspectives on Agroecology now available for free online

Edited by scholar-activist Rachel Wynberg, African Perspectives on Agroecology: Why farmer-led seed and knowledge systems matter is now freely available online. The widely endorsed book includes a chapter by the African Centre for Biodiversity’s Stephen Greenberg on corporate expansion in African seed systems: implications for agricultural biodiversity and food sovereignty. African Perspectives on Agroecology includes […]

5 February 2024

Game-changer for regulation of genome editing and new tech as SA’s Ag Minister overrules Industry...

PRESS RELEASE 5 February 2024 The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), welcomes the final decision taken by the South African Minister of Agriculture Ms Thoko Didiza, in terms of section 19 of the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Act of 1997, to uphold the October 2021 decision of the Executive Council (EC) that the risk assessment […]

30 January 2024

No to GM wheat!

Food sovereignty alliance from Latin America, Africa, and Asia approaches seven UN Special Rapporteurs for urgent intervention to block cultivation and trade of GM wheat HB4 To date over 100 organisations endorse this submission. Please note the deadline for endorsements is Wednesday 15 February. PRESS RELEASE 30 January 2024 On 26 January 2024, a submission […]

8 December 2023

Wishing you a joyous end of year

“Our own shadows disappear as the feet of thousandsby the tens of thousands pound the fallow landinto new dust thatrising like a marvellous pollen will befertileeven as the first woman whisperingimagination to the trees around her madefor righteous fruitfrom such deliberate defence of lifeas no other stillwill claim inferior to any other safetyin the world.”— […]

19 October 2023

ACB attends 25th SBSTTA meeting in Kenya

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is participating in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 25th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Nairobi, Kenya, 15–19 October 2023, represented by advocacy and research officer Sabrina Masinjila. (She is pictured above, sitting next to Barbara Ntambirweki –  Ugandan lawyer and researcher working […]

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, […]

26 September 2023

Ambitious action to phase out world’s most dangerous pesticides urged

UPDATE: Anna Shevel, network coordinator for Unpoison SA, a civil society network united behind effecting legislative reform of agrichemical policy, recently joined Pippa Hudson on CapeTalk to unpack the call on governments, policymakers and other stakeholders attending the Fifth International Conference on Chemical Management to urgently phase out highly hazardous pesticides. Explore some of ACB’s […]

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 […]

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) […]