IFOAM 2011 President’s report - By Andre Leu
IFOAM achieves a significant amount for the international organic sector with a very small budget compared to other similar international non-government organizations. This is due to the dedication and hard work by all who work and contribute to our organization - including paid employees, committee members, task force members, members of IFOAM Self Organised Structures such as GALCI, INOFO, IFOAM Japan, IFOAM EU, and World Board Members.
The new World Board
The new World Board (WB) is settling in and learning about many issues, activities and responsibilities that come with this position.
We had three face-to-face meetings in Korea where Markus Arbenz, Roberto Ugas and I were involved in the induction process.
Given that eight of the 10 WB members are new, it is important that they are correctly informed about the roles and responsibilities that come with the position as well as about how the organization operates.
Many of the WB members have already started to represent IFOAM at various events such as the regional Biofach shows (India and Brazil) and conferences such as in Africa.
UN climate change meeting in
Durban
I led the IFOAM Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 17 meeting in Durban, South Africa. This has been the most successful of all the COPS (Conference of Parties [a Party is a National Government]) and UNFCCC Climate Change meetings that we have attended since Copenhagen in 2009.
IFOAM’S purpose in participating in COP 17 is to continue the advocacy of the compelling messages of the multiple benefits for mitigation, adaptation and food security of organic systems.
This delegation built on IFOAM’S initial participation in COP 15 in Copenhagen and COP 16 in Cancun as well as attending UNFCCC working group meetings in Bonn and Bangkok. The delegation consisted of myself, Robert Jordan - IFOAM’S Advocacy Manager, Dr Yemi Dr Yemi Akinbamijo from the African Union, Dr Sue Edwards from ISD in Ethiopia, Professor Raymond Auerbach from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Director of the Rainman Landcare Foundation and Christina Auerbach.
IFOAM presented two side events that were very well received along with two other sided events - Humane Society International and FAO Climate-smart Knowledge Day.
Our messages centred around both the compelling science as well as real world examples of the multifunctional benefits that organic systems deliver in terms of adaptation, mitigation and food security as well as the wider environmental and social benefits.
The Durban agreement
The key outcome brokered by the European Union for a comprehensive legal agreement will cover all the emitting countries by 2015. It will be fully implemented by 2020. This is the most significant step ever taken by the UNFCCC and far more important that the Kyoto Protocol (KP).
The Durban Agreement will cover more than 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and will largely replace the Kyoto Protocol, as the KP covers less than 20 per cent of emissions.
Ecological organic agriculture
conference
I gave the opening speech and welcoming address at The International Conference on Ecological Organic Agriculture on November 15, 2011 at the UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
One of the aims of this conference was to build awareness of accessible and resilient organic based production systems and to position ecological organic agriculture higher on the agenda of African governments, policy makers and the international donor community.
The conference was jointly organized by IFOAM, the African Union. The Kenyan Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN) and COLABORA and was hosted by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at their Headquarter in Nairobi. All the UNEP officials I talked to were very supportive of organic systems.
Manjo Smith, our World Board Member from Namibia attended and chaired the main plenary session.
The Nairobi Declaration for an Ecological Organic
Alternative for Africa
The conference delivered the Nairobi Declaration where the African Union supports the principle of ecological organic agriculture being at the center of its agriculture policy.
The draft of this important declaration can be found at:
http:// www. ifoam. org/ events/ ifoam_ conferences/ pdfs/ NairobiDeclaration- For- An- Organic- Alternative-for-africa_draft.pdf
Chengdu China
I had the honour of opening the Organic Trade Union of China (OTUC) Summit 2011 in Chengdu, China on Nov 17, 2011, as well as giving the keynote speech.
This summit was held to launch the official beginning of the Chinese organic movement’s first nationwide non-governmental industry organization.
It was well attended with hundreds of delegates from around the world and all over China.
I was very impressed with the level of support not just from the private sector, but also from the various levels of Chinese government from National, Provincial and the city of Chengdu.
The Chinese are seriously investing in the organic sector and are rapidly emerging as one of the most significant countries in both production and consumption.
It has been a very busy year for the OFA in 2011, actively working on behalf of the Australian organic sector.
Support for WA organic
farmer
The release of GM canola, the ending of GMO moratoriums and WA Farmer, Steve Marsh’s Court Case has meant that the OFA has been making GMOS a priority due to the significant risks of the contamination of organic crops with novel transgenes.
The push for the full scale introduction of GM plants has increased steadily with the Federal Government and most State Governments openly advocating the widespread use GMOS.
Steve Marsh symbolises the lone Dutch boy with his finger in the hole of the dyke trying to stop the leak before it burst and floods the landscape.
He is not the only case of a farmer having his crop contaminated, however he is the farmer who is prepared to fight on principle. That is why the OFA invited Steve to be our guest of honour at our Annual Lifetime Achievement Awards Dinner and why we will continue to support him.
The right to a zero level of
GM contamination
The future of organic farming and the very nature of how we coexist with GMOS are now at stake.
We need to be clear that it is not true coexistence if the proposal on the table demands that organic has to accept a certain level of GM contamination.
This is the only offer from the WA Government and several farming peak bodies.
Their argument is that organic standards are being inconsistent with GMO contamination. Because some organic standard allow very small levels of pesticide contamination, therefore they should allow small levels of GMO contamination.
The organic sector sometimes allows pesticide residues that are 100 to 1000 times lower than the Australian permitted Maximum Residues Levels (MRLS).
These residues do not come from the organic farmer as no organic farmer is permitted to use any of these types of synthetic toxic sprays.
The current widespread use of numerous farm chemicals results in widespread contamination of much of the planet and unfortunately the
tissues of most living organisms, including humans.
Research in the USA has found over 200 toxic chemicals in the umbilical cords of new born babies.
Babies are being exposed to untested cocktails of these toxic compounds before they are born.
Please see the US Presidents Cancer Report on this serious problem. http:// www. ofa. org. au/ papers/ OrganicFoods-a-summary-of-benefits.pdf
Given the widespread contamination of the planet by these chemicals, a blanket restriction would penalize many honest farmers and at times make it difficult to obtain organic foods.
Our guarantee to consumers are that no toxic chemicals were used in the production of organic foods and that any food found with accidental residues caused by conventional farmers, that these must be 100 to 1000 times lower than the conventional MRLS otherwise it loses its organic status.
The good news is that the testing of food shows that most organic foods are completely free of all chemicals.
Unfortunately the widespread use of chemicals by others can sometimes result in the occasional finding of extremely low levels of pesticides in organic foods.
Eating conventional food is the major source of pesticide exposure for most people.
The real good news is that scientific tests show that the chemical residues from consuming conventional foods are no longer in the urine of children after eating organic food for four days.
Government and industry disregard for the environment
It shows an unbelievable disregard for the environment and human health to use the excuse of the widespread contamination of the Biosphere with toxic chemicals as the justification to allow the widespread contamination of novel transgenic DNA from GMOS.
We are too late to stop the widespread contamination of the environment with toxic chemicals however we can prevent the widespread contamination of our environment with novel transgenic DNA. In fact we have the moral duty to stop this contamination.
We should be able to agree that we all have the right to farm with our chosen method and that our consumers and farmers have the right to a ZERO level of GM contamination.
New research on the problems with glyphosate
and GMOS
Professor Emeritus, Don Huber has given an excellent presentation on the failure of glyphosate and GM to the UK Parliament’s Group on Agroecology.
The scientific evidence of the
se- rious problems that this technology causes is compelling and I would recommend that everybody should download a copy and see the images and the results of the studies. http:// agroecologygroup.org.uk/index.php/ events/ previous- meetings/ 2011- 1101/
The images in Professor Huber’s Powerpoint presentation further reinforce the compelling evidence that can be found in the OFA’S GMO Powerpoint presentation.
It can be downloaded from our website and outlines the multiple health dangers of GMOS. http://www.ofa. org.au/pages/presentations.html
Round table on organic agriculture and climate change
The OFA was a founding member of the Round Table on Organic Agriculture and Climate Change (RTOACC) on December 16, 2009 in Copenhagen.
The RTOACC is a multi-stakeholder initiative with nine founding members. It brings together stakeholders and partners along the organic food production chain.
The principal objectives round table are:
Initiate, support and facilitate research on organic agriculture and climate change.
Advise the international community on organic agriculture and climate change issues.
Develop a measurement method to enable reliable quantification and certification of carbon sequestration in organic agriculture.
To achieve these goals, the members agreed on an action plan for the years 2010 and 2011.
I went to Brussels to participate in the RTOACC meetings that were
of
the hosted by the IFOAM EU Group in October, 2011.
As part of hosting the main RTOACC meeting where we discussed the current research and the future needs, the IFOAM EU group also hosted a public seminar on October 18, 2011 in the European Parliament in Brussels, titled Agriculture in times of Climate Change - Organic farming approaches to face the challenge.
The following morning, before the RTOACC meeting, the IFOAM EU Group arranged for us to meet with key EU Commissioners on the issues around organic agriculture and climate change.
This was enormously important as some of the best scientists and researchers in this area, such as Dr Urs Niggli and Dr Andreas Gattinger from FIBL, presented credible scientific data on the multifunctional benefits that OA brings to climate change.
Dr Nadia Scialabba from FAO has just produced a book that covers the main areas of research conducted by RTOACC.
It can be
The OFA has produced a manual on managing climate change in organic systems.
This book outlines the proven practices for increasing soil carbon as well as numerous management methods for improving water and energy use efficiency on farms to increase adaptability, reliability, crop yields and reduce expenses.
It was used as the basis of the 36 workshops specifically designed for organic producers that were run across Australia in all states and territories. These were completed in 2011.
The online version of this book is available from the OFA website in the publications page:
‘Improving the Capacity of Organic Producers to Manage Climate Change’
http:// www. ofa. org. au/ media/ Organicproducersmanagingclimate- Change2010.pdf
The OFA Environmental Research and Education Trust
The OFA Environmental Research and Education Trust achieved full tax deductibility from the Australian Government in 2010
The aim is to attract investment into sound scientific research and education relevant to organic and bio-dynamic management systems and marketing.
The trust has started to receive funding and the first education projects have commenced.
Professor Peter Cornish has recently resigned as the Chair and Dr Els Wynen has been appointed to fill the vacancy.
downloaded at: www.fao.org/organicag/en/
National Food Plan
http://
Manual on managing climate
change and soil carbon
The OFA put in a comprehensive submission on the multifunctional benefits and the compelling cases for organic systems to the National Food Plan.
The National Food Plan will look at all the aspects from the paddock to the plate and is the first the Australian Government has put together.
The OFA submission is a very useful resource document on the compelling cases of organic systems and can be downloaded from our website. www. ofa.au
OFA awards dinner
The Annual OFA Lifetime Achievement Awards Dinner on was held on August 5, 2011 at AGAPE organic restaurant to a full restaurant with over 120 people
Awards were presented to Els Wynen, Rod May, Hurbertus Bobbert, Keith Morris and Dennis O’leary.
Our guest of honour was Steve Marsh, the WA Farmer who is taking legal action over the contamination of his property with GMO canola
Education and training needs
of the organic sector
The OFA Education committee has negotiated around 100 TAFE places for people to Study for Certificate IVS and Diplomas in Organic Farming.
We were pleased to see that they were all filled and will help with ensuring a skilled new generation of organic farmers.
We are currently negotiating more places.
Thank you
Most importantly we would like to thank all our members and supporters.
You are very important to us, because without your contributions we would not have the funds to operate this organization and to work on behalf of all of us to ensure that the organic sector has expanding and vibrant future. We appreciate your continued membership.