Poland: The Festival of Nature and Culture – Stop GMO – Save Traditional Seeds

This weekend (9, 10 and 11 December) there’s a music festival across Poland to promote traditional culture, seeds and plant varieties, and to oppose genetically modified foods.  More than 80 events will take place across the country.

These days of action are being organized by:

ICPPC – International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside,
Międzynarodowa Koalicja dla Ochrony Polskiej Wsi
34-146 Stryszów 156, Poland tel./fax +48 33 8797114
www.icppc.pl  www.gmo.icppc.pl   www.eko-cel.pl

They themselves will also sponsor some awareness raising events in Krakow.

Your Opinion is NOT Wanted on Agricultural Biodiversity in the EU

The EU is conducting a survey on it’s current program of agricultural biodiversity, and you aren’t invited to participate.  Participation is by invitation only, and a username and password are required.  This program has often been criticized for not allowing sufficient access to farmers organizations and NGOs, or indeed others who have a stake in agricultural biodiversity.

Does anyone not have a stake in agricultural biodiversity?

Anyway, if you feel you have a stake and want your voice to be heard, you might contact them via email at AGRI-RESGEN-SURVEY@ec.europa.eu

A copy of the survey can be found here.

The European Commission, Directorate-General for Agricultural and Rural Development, is carrying out a consultation on the “Community programme on the conservation, characterisation, collection and use of genetic resources in agriculture” to get stakeholders’ views on the Community programme itself and on the topic of agricultural biodiversity in general terms.

You are invited to share your opinion: the questionnaire is addressed to a wide range of targeted representative organisations working at European or International level which are potentially concerned by genetic resources diversity in agriculture:

you will find below a username and a password which enable you to access the questionnaire and submit your answers.

Submit your answers no later than Friday 20th January 2012: after this deadline, the survey will be closed.

The questionnaire can be completed in any official language of the European Union.  However, we would be particularly grateful, if you could complete the consultation in English, as this will considerably facilitates the processing assessment of results under conditions of limited resources.