www.asianfarmers.org

Climate Change (Part 1)

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AFA, through its Indonesia member Aliansi Petani Indonesia or API, participated in activities organized by civil society organizations (CSOs) parallel to the conferences of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), such as the thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) and the third session of the meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 3), in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia last December 3-14, 2007. API has been invited by some CSOs who organized the parallel activities to UNFCC.

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to fight climate change:
Asian Farmers Call for Massive Support for Sustainable, Organic Agriculture

Climate change, or Global warming, has emerged as the most serious, yet unifying , global issue, that affects every country and every citizen, both rich and poor, of the world. However, the rise of the earth’s temperature has its most serious effects to agriculture, particularly to us, poor, small scale men and women farmers, fishers and indigenous peoples, even though we have contributed least to the problem. We rely so much on our communion with nature and climate for our livelihoods and way of life. The warming of the earth will change weather patterns , disrupt ecosystems, and with it, unusual droughts, floods, storms, heat, pests, and diseases, all of which can spell insecurity, illness, disaster, hunger and even death and tragedy among us.
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The indigenous farmers who have been marching for 58 days now since October 10 from Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao reached the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Metro Manila last night, December 5, where they were received by Philippine Catholic Church leader Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and the Jesuit community, together with their supporters, including AFA and PAKISAMA.

Read the headline story by the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Watch the video taken by the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Read more about the Sumilao farmers

Get more news and information about farmers and agriculture in Asia

The following is the solidarity message sent by AFA to the Sumilao farmers, who are mostly members of PAKISAMA. The Sumilao farmers belonging to the Higaonon tribal community in southern Philippines have been marching around 1,700 kilometers for almost 60 days from Bukidnon in Mindanao to Metro Manila to reclaim the 144 hectares of ancestral land that was taken away from them and to call for the passage of the law extending the agrarian reform program that can still give land to around 433,333 landless Filipino farmers.

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Another female staff joined the secretariat of AFA last November 16, 2007, bringing the total number of staff to 5, 2 of which are male and 3 are female.

Ms. Shu Hui Tsai, a former volunteer for TaiwanDHRRA, AsiaDHRRA and ICDF, recently finished her one year teaching contract in Chang Rai, Thailand. She applied for the position of Technical Assistant of AFA, after the Execom decided to set up a separate secretariat office for AFA last July 16,2007.

Ms. Shui has a Master’s in Agribusiness Management from the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology(NPUST) in Taiwan.

She was the Winner of the 2006 Youth Public Participation Award on international category for non-students, organized by the National Youth Commission of Executive Yuan, Taiwan.

Press release – for immediate release
5th December 2007

Joint press release by World Rainforest Movement, Watch Indonesia, Walhi Jambi, Grupo de Reflexion Rural, Biofuelwatch and African Biodiversity Network

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Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Dec 5, 07 10:47am | malaysiakini

A people-centred and people-empowered Asean remains elusive, not least because politicians still assume they have been mandated to act without consultations with their constituents, said civil society advocates.

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ISIS Press Release 04/12/07

When ISIS organised its briefing at European Parliament in
June (Scientists and MEPs for a GM free Europe, SiS 35), we
already knew that one of our speakers, Irina Ermakova, has
had her funding withdrawn because the results of her
experiments (GM Soya Fed Rats: Stunted, Dead, or Sterile,
SiS 33) challenged the claims of the biotech industry that
GM food is safe. She has since been the victim of a
scandalous attempt to discredit her work by the mainstream
journal, Nature Biotechnology (Science and Scientist Abused,
SiS 36).
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