Paying farmers to protect the planet is future: U.N.

[nosmokes]

This is a very important initiative and I hope it can be implemented successfully and does what it's meant to do w/o being corrupted by big business and big money interests.
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original-reuters

Paying farmers to protect the planet is future: U.N.

ROME (Reuters) - Paying farmers to protect the environment -- rather than just for their produce -- will be an important way to ensure a rapidly increasing demand for food does not destroy the planet, a U.N. agency said on Thursday.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said paying for "environmental services" is set to be an important way to link two of humanity's greatest challenges: beating poverty and safeguarding the environment.

"(Farming) has the potential to degrade the Earth's land, water, atmosphere and biological resources -- or to enhance them -- depending on the decisions made by the more than 2 billion people whose livelihoods depend directly on crops, livestock, fisheries or forests," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.

"Ensuring appropriate incentives for these people is essential," he said in his foreword to the agency's annual report "The State of Food and Agriculture" which focused on environmental payments.

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complete article here

[Uncle Joe]

1. I have the same hopes and concerns as you do, nosmokes.

But I'm open to creative solutions, thanks for the thread.

[nightrider767]

2. Africa and S. America scare me

two entire continents where anything goes...

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

3. Hoy Shit. Continent broadbrush. Yikes.

MKJ

[nosmokes]

4. Neither continent is anywhere close to being as *wide open*

Neither continent is anywhere close to being as *wide open* as you might think and and agbiotech wishes, that's for sure.Most Latin American countries actually have much more stringent laws on the books re: GMOs than the States and they're actually enforced w/in the limits of available resources.Of course, in some places it's a situation that's close to all out war as was shown very recently in Brazil when a group of peasants occupied an illegal GMO test plot of Syngenta's they have ben protesting for months. It finally came to a head when Syngenta's armed (also against Brasilian law)mercenary force tried to evict the protestors resulting in one dead guard and one dead peasant and many wounded, some severely. Of course you'll never read about this up here.Africa is a whole nother kettle of fish.The big picture you have Bill, Melinda and Warren calling themselves a charity and backed up w/ $billions touting the GMO party line of false promises and a totally screwed up environment but big bucks for their industrial baron pals, while at the same enslaving the natives in debt they'll never be able to escape.Thankfully they're up against a coalition of NGOs ledd by Kofi Anan and Greenpeace that are doing their best to bring sustainable farming methods to Africa. The success of either one depends largely on how vulnerable to corruption a country's regulatory system is to fraud and corruption and how much of the country's Ag is produced for export. GMO doesn't sell well in the EU or the Arabian countries.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. Thanks, nosmokes, for offering such a cogent response to that

vague description of two continents.

Your points are well taken.

MKJ