Posts in November 18, 2005

The critical question before us today is whether a new trade deal under the World Trade Organization would be beneficial to the Philippines? Do we want a new deal when the “old deal”—the Uruguay Round Agreements that the Senate ratified in 1995- have proven to be disastrous to agriculture and industry? Shouldn’t we be making an effort to first assess the impact of these agreements before committing to new agreements?

1. Asia Partnership for Human Development (APHD) is an association of 22 Catholic development agencies from Asia, Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Drawing inspiration and vision from scriptures and the Catholic Church’s social teachings, APHD works in solidarity with the poor, marginalized and oppressed peoples of Asia in their efforts for empowerment, development, and the promotion of their dignity and rights. The partnership commits itself to sharing, learning and capacity building in the context of the Asian realities of poverty, exploitation and exclusion, and the unfolding challenges of globalization. 2. In its regional advocacy work, APHD collaborates with Asia General (AG) partners ANGOC, AsiaDHRRA, SAWTEE and SEACON. At the global front, it strengthened its solidarity with Caritas Internationalis and its trade advocacy partner CIDSE. These collaborations are vital to APHD as it supports national advocacy work of partner agencies on sustainable agriculture, food security, and farmers’ rights, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and seed rights, and other trade-related issues centering on the WTO negotiations on TRIPs and agriculture (AoA).

A list of books on Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development published by AFa partner ERA Consumer Malaysia 1. […]

When the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) meets this year in Philadelphia, Monsanto and its colleagues will not be gathering to talk about how to save the world. The goal of this industry, like any other, is to make a profit by convincing consumers that we need what they’re selling. Genetically modified (GM) food – plants and animals that have been inserted with genes from other organisms – aren’t meeting any real human needs. Despite claims from the biotech industry, GM foods cannot end world hunger, and new studies add to the evidence that they may pose a serious threat to human health.