GMO-Free World Summit on Diversity - Bonn, May 2008

At their final plenary the participants of the GMO-Free Regions Conference 2007 adopted the following call for a "GMO-Free World Summit on Diversity" in May 2008:

We, the participants of the 3rd Conference of GMO-Free Regions in Europe invite the farmers, gardeners and consumers of the world to celebrate the diversity of our seed and food and cultures and their freedom from GMOs, patents and corporate control. This celebration will coincide with and address the meeting of the parties of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Convention on Biodiversity in Bonn, Germany in May 2008. We call upon organisations, communities and institutions from around the world to join us in organising this event and to contribute to its program. Let us join forces for the freedom of seed and reproduction and the freedom from GMOs and patents on life. Let us also make our message be heard be the representatives of governments as well a the people of the world.

Download the call in English, French and German for print

In May, a local organising committee was formed, now seeking global participation and co-sponsoship in this event:

Invitation to join the GMO-FREE WORLD SUMMIT ON DIVERSITY

Bonn, 12 – 16 May 2008

Dear Friends on our small planet!

From 12 – 16 May 2008 representatives of 141 member countries of the "Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety" under the Rio Convention on Biodiversity will be meeting in Bonn, Germany. The main issue on their agenda will be liability and redress from damages caused by genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Also participating will be hundreds of delegates from non-member parties, such as the USA, Canada and Argentina as well as the GMO industry and scientists.

We believe that this is the perfect occasion to hold the world's first GMO-Free Summit on Diversity. At a recent European conference of GMO-Free Regions in Brussels 300 delegates from 36 countries and 230 GMO-Free Regions in Europe issued this invitation:

"We invite the farmers, gardeners and consumers of the world to celebrate the diversity of our seed and food and cultures and their freedom from GMOs, patents and corporate control. This celebration will coincide with and address the meeting of the parties of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Convention on Biodiversity in Bonn, Germany in May 2008. We call upon organisations, communities and institutions from around the world to join us in organising this event and to contribute to its program. Let us join forces for the freedom of seed and reproduction and freedom from GMOs and patents on life. Let us also make our message be heard by the representatives of governments as well as the people of the world."

The local organising committee hosting this event is now seeking partners from all regions and continents of the globe to prepare and participate in order to facilitate a truly international event.

What we have in mind so far is a three-day international conference and a week of celebrations, exhibitions and events. We are seeking your advice on the programme, and we call for your participation and contributions – your imagination and causes, your recipes and traditions, your seeds and success stories. We also invite your suggestions on how to defend natural and cultivated biodiversity against the threats of a genetically engineered industrial agriculture.

If you would like to be part of these celebrations and events, please respond to this call within the coming weeks and no later than July 15th.

The provisional organising Committee:

GENET (European NGO network on genetic engineering, 50 members), CONSUMERS INTERNATIONAL, GREENPEACE, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, IFOAM (Int. Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements), ABL (Family Farmers Union, member of Via Campesina), Church Development Service (Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst - EED), Initiative of GE-Free Seed Breeders (IG Saatgut), BUKO Agro coordination, SAVE OUR SEEDS (Foundation on Future Farming)

Contact:

"Save Our Seeds", Foundation on Future Farming
Marienstr.19-20, 10117 Berlin, Germany, Tel +49 30 27590309 Fax +49 30 27590312
Email: info@gmo-free-regions.org