Main information in brief:
“Planet Diversity“ – a world congress of diversity
12 – 16 May 2008 in Bonn, Germany
“Regional, diverse, GMO-free“, this was the theme of “Planet Diversity“, the International Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture, which took place in May 2008 in Bonn, Germany, parallel to UN Convention on Biodiversity and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
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The “Planet Diversity“ International Conference
May 13–15, 2008
Some 500 delegates from grassroots initiatives; local and regional governments; farm, consumer, environmental and development organisations world-wide came together to discuss and develop strategies for a common future of diversity.
Issues that were addressed include: diversity in agriculture, horticulture and food; food sovereignty and small farmers’ successes; regional self-determination and the fight against industrial monocultures and genetic engineering in the fields and in our food; farmers’ rights to seed; terminator sterilisation and biopiracy; and new strategies for dealing with climate change.
Invited speakers at the “Planet Diversity” Congress were among many others the Right Livelihood Award laureates: Percy Schmeiser (2007, Canada), Ibraham Abouleish (2003, Egypt, founder and chairman of the Sekem initiative), Vandana Shiva (1993, India), and Royoko Shimizu (1989, Japan). Present also were: Jakob von Uexküll of the World Future Council; World Food Prize laureate Hans Herren; scientists such as Miguel Altieri, president of the Latin-American Society for Agroecology; Ulrich Köpke, president of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research; theologian and biologist Günter Altner; biologists and activists Christine von Weizsäcker and Florianne Koechlin.
The detailed Congress program is available on-line:
Plenary sessions (with simultaneous translation in German, English, French and Spanish)
