Tag Archive for: Biodiversity

Wild bee decline threatens US crop production

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The first national study to map U.S. wild bees suggests they’re disappearing in many of the country’s most important farmlands–including California’s Central Valley, the Midwest’s corn belt, and the Mississippi River valley.

If losses of these crucial pollinators continue, the new nationwide assessment indicates that farmers will face increasing costs–and that the problem may even destabilize the nation’s crop production.

The findings were published December 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research team, led by Insu Koh at the University of Vermont, estimates that wild bee abundance between 2008 and 2013 declined in 23% of the contiguous U.S. The study also shows that 39% of US croplands that depend on pollinators–from apple orchards to pumpkin patches–face a threatening mismatch between rising demand for pollination and a falling supply of wild bees.

In June of 2014, the White House issued a presidential memorandum warning that “over the past few decades, there has been a significant loss of pollinators, including honey bees, native bees, birds, bats, and butterflies.” The memo noted the multi-billion dollar contribution of pollinators to the US economy–and called for a national assessment of wild pollinators and their habitats.

Keep Reading in EurekAlert!

Beavers are being looked at as little climate change fighting machines

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Author: Sarah Koenigsberg

Like beavers themselves, the human subjects of Koenigsberg’s documentary, The Beaver Believers, are climate change activists.

“They’re almost seeing climate change as an opportunity to act, to get involved, to fix problems we’ve actually had in our watersheds for several decades now. That just struck me as exactly the kind of inspiring climate change story that we really need to be telling,” says Koenigsberg, a Washington-based filmmaker.

“The Beaver Believers” features the stories of people who share the common passion of restoring the beaver in the West by trapping and relocating the animals to habitats that could use a beaver’s touch.

Sherry Tippee, a hairdresser and an animal lover from Colorado, heard of beavers that were going to be killed because they had taken up residence in an urban environment. She saved them, and had gone on to become the leading live trapper in all of Colorado.

Of the six people featured in the film, some work for the federal government or the forest service, while others are like Tippee: people who have found purpose reintroducing beavers to their former lands.

Before European fur trappers arrived in America, beavers numbered in the millions.

Keep Reading on PRI

Cover Crops: Long-term Benefit

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Author: Reed Fujii

LOCKEFORD — Farmers and ranchers primarily focus on growing plants that produce food or fiber — something of value they can sell and get cash to pay their bills for seed, farm labor, fuel and fertilizer and, hopefully, keep something for themselves.

But researchers at the Lockeford Plant Materials Center are encouraging growers to think differently — to cultivate cover crops, noncommercial plants that can improve the soil and more.

“They have so many benefits,” said Margaret Smither-Kopperl, manager of the U.S. Department of Agriculture research facility. “What we’re trying to do here is useful for all of us.”

Cover crops can help break up soil, improving water infiltration. and add organic material, which boosts the soil’s ability to retain water. They also can inhibit weed growth, provide nutrients for commercial crops and sustain beneficial insects.

During a field day attended by about two dozen farmers at the center last week, Smither-Kopperl acknowledged that water use by cover crops is a concern, especially with California entering a fourth year of drought.

But by helping soil retain moisture, she said, “They can actually store water in the soil.”

Cover crops are no panacea, the experts said. Plants or seed mixtures commonly used in other parts of the country may falter or fail in California’s Mediterranean climate, with its variable amounts of winter-months rain.

Keep Reading on Recordnet.com

Grupos Ambientales, de Justicia, Agricultura y Paz Someterán a Monsanto a Juicio en una Corte Internacional por Crímenes Contra la Salud Humana y el Medio Ambiente en Corte Internacional del Pueblo en La Haya

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PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA

3 de diciembre de 2015

CONTACTO: Via Orgánica/Regeneration International: Ercilia Sahores, ercilia@viaorganica.org, (55) 6257 7901

PARIS – Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), y Millions Against Monsanto, grupos pacifistas, de justicia ambiental y alimentación global, anunciaron que someterán a juicio a Monsanto MON (NYSE), una corporación trasnacional con sede central en Estados Unidos por “Crímenes contra la Humanidad y el Medio Ambiente”, en La Haya, Holanda, el año venidero, en el día mundial de la alimentación el 16 de octubre de 2016.

En conferencia de prensa, Ronnie Cummins, Director Internacional de OCA (EE.UU), afirmó: “Estamos en París este mes para abordar la mayor amenaza que los seres humanos han enfrentado en 100-200.000 años de evolución-calentamiento global y trastornos climáticos. ¿Por qué hay tanto dióxido de carbono, metano y óxido nitroso en la atmósfera y no hay suficiente materia orgánica y carbono en el suelo?.”

Según Vandana Shiva, fundadora de Navdanya (India): “Monsanto promueve un modelo agroindustrial que contribuye con al menos un tercio de las emisiones de gas de efecto invernadero antropogénicas y es responsable de la merma de los recursos del suelo y el agua, especies y la declinación de biodiversidad y el desplazamiento de millones de pequeños campesinos en todo el mundo.”

Andre Leu, presidente de IFOAM afirmó: “La historia de Monsanto puede ser leída como un manual de estilo sobre impunidad, beneficiando a las corporaciones trasnacionales y sus ejecutivos, cuyas actividades contribuyen a las crisis del clima y la biosfera y amenazan la seguridad del planeta.”

Marie-Monique Robin, directora de “El mundo según Monsanto,” declaró:

“Solamente a través de un resurgimiento colectivo de todas las fuerzas vivas podremos acabar con esta máquina de destrucción. Por ello hago un llamado a todos los ciudadanos del mundo a participar en este ejemplar tribunal.”

Desde comienzos del siglo veinte, Monsanto ha desarrollado un sinnúmero de productos altamente tóxicos que han dañado de manera permanente el ambiente y causado enfermedades y muertes de miles de personas.

Basándose en los “Principios rectores sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos” adoptados por la ONU en 2011, una Corte Internacional de abogados y jueces evaluará la responsabilidad criminal potencial de Monsanto por los daños infringidos a la salud humana y el ambiente.

Lista completa de organizaciones fundadoras: https://regenerationinternational.org/monsanto-tribunal-supporting-organizations/

Lista completa de integrantes de la Fundación Tribunal contra Monsanto: https://regenerationinternational.org/members-of-the-organizing-committee/

Mayor información disponible en https://www.monsanto-tribunal.org/, luego de las 2:30 p.m. hora de E.E.U.U el 3 de diciembre de 2015.

Organic Consumers Association (OCA, por sus siglas en inglés), https://www.organicconsumers.org/ es una Organización de interés público sin fines de lucro 501 (c)(3), que hace campañas en línea y de base, por la salud, la justicia y la sostenibilidad. El Fondo de Consumidores Orgánicos es una organización 501 (c)(4), organización aliada de la Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos, que se centra en el cabildeo de base y la acción legislativa.

Regeneración Internacional https://regenerationinternational.org/ es una organización sin fines de lucro 501 (c)(3) dedicada a la construcción de una red global de agricultores, científicos, negocios, activistas, educadores, periodistas, gobiernos y consumidores quienes promoverán y pondrán en práctica a la agricultura regenerativa y prácticas de uso de suelo que: dan alimentos abundantes y nutritivos; reviven a las economías locales; reconstruyen la fertilidad del suelo y biodiversidad; y restauran la estabilidad climática al regresar al carbono al suelo, a través del proceso natural de la fotosíntesis.

LEE MÁS ARTÍCULOS EN ESPAÑOL

Global Food, Farming and Environmental Justice Groups to Put Monsanto on Trial for Crimes Against Human Health and the Environment in the International People’s Court in The Hague

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 2015 CONTACT: US: Organic Consumers Association/Regeneration International: Katherine Paul, 207-653-3090, katherine@organicconsumers.org (US); Via Organica/Regeneration International: Ercilia Sahores, ercilia@viaorganica.org; Stichting Monsanto Tribunal: Arnaud Apoteker, arnaudapoteker@yahoo.fr, +33 (0)6 07 57 31 60 (France) Global Food, Farming and Environmental Justice Groups to Put Monsanto on Trial for Crimes Against Human Health and the Environment in the International People’s Court in The Hague  Organic Consumers Association, IFOAM, Navdanya, Regeneration International and others form Monsanto Tribunal Foundation in advance of World Food Day 2016 PARIS – The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), and Millions Against Monsanto, joined by dozens of global food, farming and environmental justice groups announced today that they will put Monsanto MON (NYSE), a US-based transnational corporation, on trial for crimes against nature and humanity, and ecocide, in The Hague, Netherlands, next year on World Food Day, October 16, 2016. The announcement was made at a press conference held in conjunction with the COP21 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, November 30 – December 11, in Paris. Speaking at the press conference, Ronnie Cummins, international director of the OCA (US) and Via Organica (Mexico), and member of the RI Steering Committee, said: “The time is long overdue for a global citizens’ tribunal to put Monsanto on trial for crimes against humanity and the environment. We are in Paris this month to address the most serious threat that humans have ever faced in our 100-200,000 year evolution—global warming and climate disruption. Why is there so much carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere and not enough carbon organic matter in the soil? Corporate agribusiness, industrial forestry, the garbage and sewage industry and agricultural biotechnology have literally killed the climate-stabilizing, carbon-sink capacity of the Earth’s living soil.” Vandana Shiva, physicist, author, activist and founder of Navdanya, and member of the RI Steering Committee said: “Monsanto has pushed GMOs in order to collect royalties from poor farmers, trapping them in unpayable debt, and pushing them to suicide. Monsanto promotes an agro-industrial model that contributes at least 50 percent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Monsanto is also largely responsible for the depletion of soil and water resources, species extinction and declining biodiversity, and the displacement of millions of small farmers worldwide.” Andre Leu, president of IFOAM and a member of the RI Steering Committee, said: “Monsanto is able to ignore the human and environmental damage caused by its products, and maintain its devastating activities through a strategy of systemic concealment: by lobbying regulatory agencies and governments, by resorting to lying and corruption, by financing fraudulent scientific studies, by pressuring independent scientists, and by manipulating the press and media. Monsanto’s history reads like a text-book case of impunity, benefiting transnational corporations and their executives, whose activities contribute to climate and biosphere crises and threaten the safety of the planet.” Marie-Monique Robin, journalist and author of the best-selling documentary (and book by the same name), “The World According Monsanto,” said: “This International Citizens’ Tribunal is necessary because the defense of the safety of the planet and the conditions of life on Earth is everyone’s concern. Only through a collective resurgence of all living forces will we stop the engine of destruction. That’s why today I am calling on all citizens of the world to participate in this exemplary tribunal.” Also speaking at the conference were Valerie Cabanes, lawyer and spokesperson for End Ecocide on Earth; Hans Rudolf Herren, president and CEO of the Millennium Institute, president and founder of Biovision, and member of the RI Steering Committee; Arnaud Apoteker, creator of the anti-GMO campaign in France, which became one of the priority campaigns of Greenpeace France, and author of “Fish in Our Strawberries: Our Manipulated Food;” and Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPESFood) and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Monsanto has developed a steady stream of highly toxic products which have permanently damaged the environment and caused illness or death for thousands of people. These products include:

  • PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl), one of the 12 Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) that affect human and animal fertility;
  • 2,4,5 T (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid), a dioxin-containing component of the defoliant, Agent Orange, which was used by the US Army during the Vietnam War and continues to cause birth defects and cancer;
  • Lasso, an herbicide that is now banned in Europe;
  • and RoundUp, the most widely used herbicide in the world, and the source of the greatest health and environmental scandal in modern history. This toxic herbicide, designated a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization, is used in combination with genetically modified (GM) RoundUp Ready seeds in large-scale monocultures, primarily to produce soybeans, maize and rapeseed for animal feed and biofuels.

Relying on the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” adopted by the UN in 2011, an international court of lawyers and judges will assess the potential criminal liability of Monsanto for damages inflicted on human health and the environment. The court will also rely on the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2002, and it will consider whether to reform international criminal law to include crimes against the environment, or ecocide, as a prosecutable criminal offense. The International Criminal Court, established in 2002 in The Hague, has determined that prosecuting ecocide as a criminal offense is the only way to guarantee the rights of humans to a healthy environment and the right of nature to be protected. Full list of founding organizations (so far) here. https://regenerationinternational.org/monsanto-tribunal-supporting-organizations/ Full list of Monsanto Tribunal Foundation organizing members here. https://regenerationinternational.org/members-of-the-organizing-committee/ More information will be available at https://www.monsanto-tribunal.org/, after 2:30 p.m. EU time on December 3, 2015. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) https://www.organicconsumers.org/ is an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)(3) public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The Organic Consumers Fund is a 501(c)4 allied organization of the Organic Consumers Association, focused on grassroots lobbying and legislative action. Regeneration International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to building a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, governments and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revive local economies; rebuild soil fertility and biodiversity; and restore climate stability by returning carbon to the soil, through the natural process of photosynthesis.

Soils and Biodiversity

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Soils host a quarter of our planet’s biodiversity.

Soil is one of nature’s most complex ecosystems: it contains a myriad of organisms which interact and contribute to the global cycles that make all life possible.

FAO-Infographic-IYS2015-fs3-en

Download the Info Graphic from FAO

Linking Agricultural Biodiversity and Food Security: The Valuable Role of Agrobiodiversity for Sustainable Agriculture

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Author: Lori Ann Thrupp

There is a growing realization worldwide that biodiversity is fundamental to agricultural production and food security, as well as a valuable ingredient of environmental conservation. Yet predominant patterns of agricultural growth have eroded biodiversity in, for example, plant genetic resources, livestock, insects and soil organisms. This erosion has caused economic loss, jeopardizing productivity and food security, and leading to broader social costs. Equally alarming is the loss of biodiversity in “natural” habitats from the expansion of agricultural production to frontier areas. The conflicts between agriculture and biodiversity are by no means inevitable. With sustainable farming practices and changes in agricultural policies and institutions, they can be overcome.

Photo credit: Flickr / Ruth Hartnup

Historical evidence and current observation show that biodiversity maintenance must be integrated with agricultural practices—a strategy that can have multiple ecological and socio-economic benefits, particularly to ensure food security. Practices that conserve, sustainably use and enhance biodiversity are necessary at all levels in farming systems, and are of critical importance for food production, livelihood security, health and the maintenance of ecosystems. This article summarizes the main conflicts and complementarities between biodiversity and agriculture, discusses the ecosystem services provided by agricultural biodiversity, and highlights principles, policies and practices that enhance diversity in agroecosystems.

Download the Full Report from Research Gate

Organic Regenerative Agriculture Can Ease World Hunger and Reverse Global Warming

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2015

Contact:

English: Katherine Paul, 207.653-3090, Katherine@regenerationinternational.org

English: Lauren Stansbury, 402.540.1208, lauren@wearemovementmedia.com

Spanish: Ercilia Sahores, +52 (55) 6257 7901, ercilia@regenerationinternational.org

Organic Regenerative Agriculture Can Ease World Hunger and Reverse Global Warming

On World Food Day, International Experts Say Fossil Fuel Reduction Isn’t Enough; Survival Requires that We Also Restore the Capacity of the World’s Soils to Sequester Carbon and to Feed Vulnerable Populations

WASHINGTON D.C. — The nonprofit organization Regeneration International will hold a press conference today at 9 a.m. at the National Press Club, titled “The Future of Food: From Degeneration to Regeneration.” A panel of 10 international experts on organic agriculture, carbon sequestration and world hunger will speak to the capacity of organic regenerative agriculture to draw excess carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it in soil; how regenerative agriculture provides livelihoods for farmers, revitalizes local economies, and produces abundant food for populations most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. For more information about World Food Day, Regeneration International and this press conference, please visit: https://regenerationinternational.org/world-food-day/.

Speakers will include:

A live stream of the conference will be available here: https://regenerationinternational.org/world-food-day-livestream.

“On this World Food Day let us make a collective commitment to make a transition from an industrial agriculture model which has killed 300,000 Indian farmers, contributed 40 percent of GHGs leading to climate change, and created hunger, poverty and disease, to a regenerative agriculture that grows more and healthier food, rejuvenates the soil while reversing climate change, and sows the seeds of democracy and peace,“ said Vandana Shiva.

Ronnie Cummins said: “Regenerative organic food, farming and land use, scaled up globally on billions of acres of farmland, grassland and forests, can feed the world and reverse global warming and deteriorating public health. An international alliance of small farmers, ranchers and indigenous communities, allied with conscious consumers, can literally cool the planet, restore soil health and biodiversity, and move us away from climate catastrophe and societal degeneration.”

André Leu said: “We have good peer-reviewed science showing the scaling up of regenerative organic agriculture can reverse climate change, end the loss of biodiversity, stop the poisoning of our children and planet and very importantly, nourish all people with high quality food.”

Tom Newmark said: “On this World Food Day we face two interlinked planetary challenges: to produce enough food for all people and to sequester enough carbon in the soil to reverse climate change. There is one solution for those challenges: regenerative organic agriculture. We can no longer afford to rely on chemical farming, as the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides has destroyed soils worldwide and rendered them unable to rebuild soil organic matter. It is now time for people and all governments to embrace the regenerative solution.”

Precious Phiri said: “Around the world, soil is the common currency and the only hope we have to rebuild our local economies, restore dignity and social structures while reversing climate change. We cannot achieve these benefits from the soil using harmful chemicals and heavy machinery. We must promote regenerative organic agriculture, in all communities and cultures around the world.”

Ashley Koff said: “This World Food Day, ask not what your food can do for you, but what our food will do for us all in the decades to come. The answer to whether our food feeds us all for better health lies in the health of our soil, not biotechnologies. Simply, if our soil contains the nutrients our bodies need for better health, so too can our food. Investing in our soil is the best health investment we must all make.”

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Regeneration International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to building a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, governments and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revive local economies; rebuild soil fertility and biodiversity; and restore climate stability by returning carbon to the soil, through the natural process of photosynthesis.

Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands of Mexico

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Outreach video to ranchers in northern Mexico. Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory collaborates with private landowners there to support working ranches and improve grassland habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Watch More Videos on Bird Conservancy of the Rockies’s Youtube Channel

Soil Carbon: Putting Carbon back where it belongs: In the earth

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Tony Lovell will explain the reasoning behind how more green growing plants means more captured carbon dioxide — more water — more production — more biodiversity — more profit. Did you know that a 1% change in soil organic matter across just one-quarter of the world’s land area could sequester 300 billion tonnes of physical CO2. TEDxDubbo focused attention on what we call FACETS — Food, Agriculture, Climate, Energy, Topsoil and Sustainability. These FACETS are actually potent ideas shared by everyday people with an interest in these disciplines. In many of these topics there is an awareness campaign; the aim of bringing our community together united against catastrophic failures in our food-chain, environment and health. It is worth mentioning that we are also indebted to our natural systems for our economic wealth. Failures in Food, Agriculture, Climate, Energy, Topsoil and Sustainability are not just a local issue — they are a global concern.