Detective Pig investigates soy production in South America and finds out the truth behind a new label for 'responsible' soy. This label will be launched on the European market this spring by the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS), a voluntary certification scheme supported by agribusiness including Monsanto and Unilever, and a few NGOs including WWF. This new animation video leads watchers to a petition that asks retailers and other soy users to not mislead consumers by this 'responsible' label, but rather move to real solutions which would lead to a shift away from soy imports and factory farming. Already over 15.000 people have sent this message to amongst others Carrefour, Unilever and Tesco. The animation is available in English, French, Dutch, Spanish, German and Danish.

English http://bit.ly/toxicsoy-animation

Deutsch http://bit.ly/giftsoja-animation

Castellano http://bit.ly/sojamata-animacion

Francais http://bit.ly/sojatoxique-animation

Pascual PichúnOn February 26th of this year Pascual was detained by officers of the intelligence service in Temuco, Chili, and is now being held in the prison of Traiguén, together with other political Mapuche prisoners.

His lawyer has filed a request to diminish his original punishment of 5 years imprisonment. Chilean justice has now one month before the verdict. It helps to put pressure on the Chilean authorities. More info you find here.
What can you do?

A proposed new label for ‘responsible’ soy will not stop deforestation, 235 civil society groups from across the globe warned in a letter today, ahead of a conference set to finalise the labeling scheme in Sao Paulo, Brazil.[1] The 235 groups, including Friends of the Earth International and Corporate Europe Observatory, have written to oppose the Round Table for Responsible Soy (RTRS) certification scheme, which they say could facilitate soy oil being used to meet the EU target for biofuels. This is despite evidence that soy biodiesel is worse for climate emissions than fossil fuels. [2]

BBC World Service - The Price of Bio Fuels

Listen to radio program here

Once, bio-fuels were seen as the answer to global warming and dwindling oil stocks. Today, many who took that line, believe instead that they increase pollution and are behind worldwide environmental havoc, rising food prices, and worsening hunger and poverty.

A new report has been launched titled "Soy and Agribusiness Expansion in Northwest Argentina - Legalized deforestation and community resistance. The cases of the Wichí communities of the Itiyuro River Basin and Misión Chaqueña, the Creole families of the Dorado River Basin and the Guaraní communities of El Talar". The report is published by CAPOMA (Argentina), La Soja Mata and Chaya Comunicación (Argentina), with the support of: BASE Investigaciones Sociales (Paraguay)

This report provides important insights into the process of soy and agribusiness expansion, deforestation and eviction of indigenous and rural communities in a forgotten region: North West Argentina. This region covers the Chaco, the Yungas forest and the Andes ecosystems and is inhabited by a large number of indigenous communities. The report focuses on the transition zone between the Yungas forest and the Chaco plains. The report shows how the regional Land Use Planning excercises, demanded by the Argentinean national government, turned out into a new license for massive deforestation and evictions of communities.

September 2009 - Javiera Rulli

As the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15) gets closer, a new agreement has to be signed for the period after 2012. It is becoming clear how agribusiness attempts to gain profits from the massive carbon credits market. Under the term “Conservation Agriculture”, Monsanto and other biotech allies have penetrated the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aiming to get carbon credits for agribusiness. A voluntary ‘responsible’ label for Roundup Ready soy sponsored by World Wild Life Fund (WWF), and a newly approved Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) methodology are important steps for Agribusiness to get access to this three billion dollar business.

On Thursday 10 September, the Dutch Parliament discussed the outcomes of the last RTRS-conference in Brazil last May, where a set of 'Principles and Criteria' for 'responsible soy' was agreed upon. The Dutch Parliament had called on both the Ministers of Agriculture and Development Cooperation to be present at the debate. Both Ministries support the RTRS financially and politically.

From WRM Bulletin 145, August 2009, www.wrm.org.uy

According to a research paper produced by Daniel Slutzky from the Conicet Centre for Urban and Regional Studies quoted by journalist Claudio Scaletta (1), in the Province of Salta "until the mid nineties sugar cane, tobacco and citrus, together with kidney beans were the traditional crops." Later the kidney bean cycle shrunk because of the rise of the soybean. Today this crop occupies over fifty percent of the cultivated land in the Province and continues to expand."

Stop Spraying!The Congress of Paraguay, manipulated by agribusiness, has recently approved a new law that promotes the indiscriminate fumigation of agrochemicals on monoculture plantations. This new law leaves the population without legal ways to defend themselves. President Lugo can veto the law and send it back for revision to the Congress, and take real measures to defend the population and the environment.

Sign here to urge president Lugo to veto the agrotoxics law

.A SEED Europe and the German organisation Nandu are in these days visiting a large number of locations where local residents have organised themselves against the construction of mega pig stalls. Most dates on the tour feature an information meeting and a street event. But also the informal exchange of information, experiences, arguments and strategies are important objectives of the tour.

Video letters, picture exhibition and street theatre