Gathering Call Geneva, Switzerland on 20 October

Since I have readers all over the world, I don’t normally post things that only apply to specific places.  I think however this is important.  If you can travel to Geneva consider attending the following next week:

*GATHERING CALL *
*Thursday 20 October 2011 from 12.00 pm to 2.00 pm*
*In front of the UPOV**building*
*(Union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales)*
*34, Chemin des Colombettes – Geneva*

*For the immediate recognition of farmers’ right to re-use and Exchange freely their seeds, to protect them from biopiracy and contaminations from patented genes. No to seeds multinationals’ grip!*

*No to the 1991 Proprietary Variety Protection Act, to any form of patent on plants, part of plants, their genes or extraction processes.*

Since 1991, the UPOV seeks to forbid farmers to use part of their own crop for seeds, or to force them to pay royalties to companies holding a Plant Variety Certificate. Yet, any of the seeds sold by the industry is still a product of seeds collected at no cost in the fields of farmers who have selected and preserved for millennia all food plants we feed on to this day. The Convention on Biological Diversity did introduce in 1992 in Rio the principle of a fair sharing of advantages which should force companies to pay farmer’s whose seeds were used as resources. Today, the UPOV seeks to apply at any rate its reverse sharing where it is the bio-pirated farmer who has to pay the bio-pirate!

*Yet, the right of farmers to re-use and exchange their seeds is essential for crops’ adaptation to climate change and local adaptation, which is the only way to decrease the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It ensures the security of seeds stocks and thus of food security. *

The growing number of patents on natural genes, muted or manipulated, of commercial seeds already protected by Plant Variety Certificate reinforces further the confiscation of all seeds of our planet by a handful of seeds multinationals that seize peoples’ right to food. The detrimental alliance of the UPOV and the Patents Office threatens directly food sovereignty.

*Come on and join us:*

*Farming Mystica, theatrical sketches, pacific and militant actions are awaiting you there!*

Contacts :

Uniterre, Swiss member of the European Coordination Via Campesina +41 21 601 74 67 www.uniterre.ch
European Coordination Via Campesina Rue de la Sablonnière 18- 1000 Bruxelles-Belgium- www.eurovia.org

Please RSVP