NGO Conference

Date: Thursday 6th September
Venue: Heinrich Böll Foundation
Preliminary programme: NGO Conference
Conference language: English

8:30 Coffee and registration

9:30 Plenary Session 1 – Personal accounts 

  • Introduction Benny Haerlin
  • Renate Künast a former Ag minister
  • Gerald Miles a Welsh farmer 
  • Arnaud Apotheker a French activist
  • Janet Maro a Tanzanian approach
  • Victoria Kopeykina a Russian NGO
  • Ivalyo Popov a new generation of activists
  • Ignacio Chapela a US Berkely professor’s tale
  • June Rebekka Bresson Danish perspective
  • Michiyo Koketsu No! GMO in Japan
  • Eva Gelinsky Switzerland, Moratorium 
  • Ulrich Loening Failed Scientific integrity
  • Stephanie Howard News from New Zealand
  • Tatjana Brankov Greetings from Serbia

10:40 Plenary Session 2 – What GMO Free stands for

  • Christoph Fischer Bavarian rural community action 
  • Gebhard Rossmanith Organic seeds
  • Antonio Onorati Family farmers united 
  • Kapil Shah Organic India
  • Akiko Frid Swedish holistics

11:00 Plenary Session 3 – The Future of GMO – a horror show of challenges ahead

12:00 Plenary Session 4 – Joint wrap up – where do we stand in 1 sentence

12:30 – 14:00 LUNCH

14:00 Plenary Session 5 – Living with CRISPR Stig Tanzmann Moderator 

  • Mute Schimpf The political situation in Brussels
  • Eric Gall The precautionary approach 
  • Discussion

14:40 Plenary Session 6 – Fighting Gene Drives

  • Ricarda Steinbrecher What works – and what doesn’t
  • Jim Thomas Global campaign for a moratorium (via skype) Campaign, IUCN, Gene drives in Agriculture 
  • Lili Fuhr Next steps in Sharm el Sheikh (CBD)
  • Discussion The Gene Drive agenda

15:30 Walk for coffee & workshops – to Marienstrasse

16:00 – 18:00 Workshop Session 

18:00 Walk to the evening reception via Brandenburg gate