DEMOCRACY NOW! – As the Cancún climate talks headed toward a conclusion on Friday, civil society groups spoke out against what they said was a flawed United Nations process. As the talks wrapped up inside the conference rooms of Cancún’s luxurious Moon Palace resort, civil society groups protested the process—and found themselves increasingly iced out. John Hamilton files a report from Cancún.
DEMOCRACY NOW– Protests are continuing in Haiti over the cholera outbreak that has now
killed more than 1,100 people and infected some 17,000. On Wednesday,
residents in the city of Cap-Haïtien clashed with U.N. troops for the
third consecutive day.
Crowds have taken to the streets expressing anger at the Haitian government and the United Nations for failing to contain the disease. We go to Cap-Haïtien to speak with independent journalist Ansel Herz.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Protests are continuing in Haiti over the cholera outbreak that has now killed over 1,100 people and infected more than 17,000. On Wednesday, residents in the city of Cap-Haïtien clashed with U.N. troops for the third consecutive day. Crowds have taken to the streets expressing anger at the Haitian government and the U.N. for failing to contain the disease. Nepalese U.N. troops stationed in Cap-Haïtien have been accused of inadvertently bringing cholera to Haiti.
The protests reportedly started at a cemetery where cholera victims were being placed in mass graves. At least two people have been killed in clashes between demonstrators and U.N. troops. On Tuesday, the U.N. Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, said aid flights have been canceled and water purification and training projects curtailed, while food at a warehouse has been looted and burned.
Continue reading about Haitians Barricade Streets in Protest of UN.
© Democracy Now, 2010
Photo by flickr user dmytrok
BBC NEWS– A new law has come into effect in Mexico City
giving the authorities the power to fine shops which give away free
plastic bags to their customers.
In future, shops in the Mexican capital will have to charge for the bags, which must also be biodegradable.
As well as fines of up to $90,000 (£57,700), shop owners not complying can be given a 36-hour jail term.
A local official said the law was part of the city’s “Green Plan” and aimed to raise awareness of the environment.
“This won’t happen overnight,” Leticia Bonifaz Alfonso told the Efe news agency.
Officials estimate that people in Mexico City at present use more than 20 million plastic bags per day. They are blamed for many health and environmental hazards.
Continue reading about Mexico City Bans Free Plastic Bags.
© BBC News, 2010
Photo by flickr user taberandrew
COMMON DREAMS– Individual EU nations will be free to ban genetically modified crops,
even if they are deemed safe and approved, under rule changes being
drawn up by Brussels to unblock the clearance process.
EU Health Commissioner John
Dalli, in charge of the emotive dossier, will hand over plans to
national capitals and the EU parliament for their consideration next
month, Green groups and Brussels sources said on Friday following a
series of briefings.
GMO supporters cite the benefits of growing crops with higher yields, more resistance to pests and disease, and requiring less fertiliser and pesticide. Opponents speak of ‘frankenfoods’ which will inevitably contaminate other crops and for which there can be no definitive evidence of their safety.
While the European Commission would not confirm the plans, a spokesman said there are no immediate moves to authorise more GMO crops. Environmental group Friends of the Earth said there were two main planks to the planned rule changes,
The first is “to allow member states full flexibility to ban GM crops,” with that right extended to regions within a country, a very important point in Germany and its substantially autonomous regions, or Laenders.
Continue reading about EU to Allow Nations to Ban Approved GM Crops.
© Common Dreams, 2010
Photo by flickr user AZRainman
OTHER WORLDS– “A new earthquake” is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes
Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that
Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and
vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides.
The MPP has
committed to burning Monsanto’s seeds, and has called for a march to protest
the corporation’s presence in Haiti
on June 4, for World Environment Day.
In an open letter sent May 14, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the executive director
of MPP and the spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress
of Papay (MPNKP), called the entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti
“a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity,
on Creole seeds … and on what is left our environment in Haiti.”(1)
Haitian social movements have been vocal in their opposition to agribusiness imports of seeds and food, which undermines local production with local seed stocks. They have expressed special concern about the import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Continue reading about Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Seeds.
© Beverly Bell, 2010
Photo by flickr user treesftf
