The Green Revolution was all about separating farmers from their seeds. The ideas from this came out of WWII. It was to address world food shortages and food insecurity, with the idea that agriculture needed to be taken out of the hands of people. Large investments could be made to increase production, then commodities could be tracked so investments could be rationalized. This worked, with a huge price paid by the environment and biodiversity.
Now we’re making the same mistake all over again. We’re turning nature into commodities and, in order to make large investments, we’re taking matters out of the hands of people.
Removing People from the Equation
It all starts with the very undemocratic and faceless Convention on Biological Diversity. The only thing this institution is concerned with is manipulating the finances behind agriculture and biodiversity, and has no interest in ordinary people. The fact that I might have some tiny bit of influence there is the source of well founded resentment among many who work with biodiversity, because who’s listening to them?
Doesn’t anyone else share my concerns over plans to give the Brazilian government a lot of money to protect their biodiversity? Just how is this going to work, and how is this going to help? What’s president Bolsonaro going to do when you give him a big pile of money? Buy a new car? Since this money has been under discussion for so long, it seems likely the destruction of the Amazon has been accelerated, in order to increase the urgency of this payment. It’s the people of Brazil that should be paid for taking care of their own environment, not the government.
The issue of over-fishing the oceans can be solved through reorganizing it’s use. Reduce the size of vessels and nets to make it small scale, and limit markets to local populations. Fish is not a human need, and this isn’t rocket science. The world finally addressed the problems with tobacco use by restricting marketing and use. Many problems can be solved in a similar way, including the way oceans are managed.
New supranational institutions are going to further remove people from the equation and make matters worse.
Biodiversity Emergency
We’re in the middle of a covid emergency. We’re all aware of the drastic measures that have been taken. It’s now time for environmental and biodiversity emergencies of the same scope. Not by making the same mistakes and paying large amounts of money to governments or institutions to do the wrong things, but by addressing real needs in an urgent way.
Importantly biodiversity is inextricably linked to people and the genes within them. This idea goes far beyond something philosophical. Biodiversity depends on good management from people, and people depend on the many things biodiversity gives them. Only people, as individuals, can restore their environment. The most important things needed to accomplish this are the freedom and capacity to move forward.
