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Banna Declaration on Biodiversity
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Masipag News & Views
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Dec 06, 2001 20:05 PST
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1 November 2001
THE BANNA DECLARATION ON BIODIVERSITY
We, the participants from farmers groups, NGOs and academics from
Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Sweden,
Brazil, Australia and Thailand, are all gathered here at Banna
(rice-growing village) district, Nakorn Nayok Province, Thailand,
because we believe that agricultural biodiversity and our lives, which
are closely linked are threatened by external forces, particularly
globalization. We are therefore binding ourselves and are making this
declaration.
We believe that our countries in Asia, the diversity centers, and our
people have conserved much of the biodiversity through sustainable use
in our daily lives.
Our seeds that are our heritage, our today, our tomorrow had been freely
shared through the years. Farmer-to-farmer exchanges have kept this
tradition alive; this sharing helps sustain our local knowledge.
Impositions by World Trade Organizations (WTO) and other regional trade
agreements, particularly those on intellectual property rights have
threatened our biodiversity, and hence our cultural identities. “Free
trade”, privatization and monopoly control of resources is a threat, not
only to this free exchange but also to our fundamental freedom.
The domination of multinational corporations (MNCs) over the seed
industry, and close link with agricultural research centers and some
governments have caused the loss of traditional seeds and biodiversity,
and had disrupted the culture and lives of our local farmers and
indigenous peoples. These MNCs are taking control over our natural
resources and land; the basic means of agricultural production is also
monopolized. Mainstream reductionist “science”, controlled by profit
motivated MNCs do not recognize our local knowledge. Instead, these
institutions had pirated the seeds and wisdom of our people. We are
deeply concerned about International Agricultural Research Centers
(IARCs) being hijacked by the trade agenda.
Our governments are being dictated by the MNCs through the trade
agreements. With this agenda, our governments failed to protect the
interest of its people.
We reject globalization and the profit-oriented capitalist model of
development that is being imposed on us. In the apparent inversion of
the state, where governments no longer safeguard the sovereignty of our
peoples, we declare local self-rule.
We ourselves shall manage our biological resources and not let any other
forces control them. We have sustainably used and conserved our
biological resources the natural way on our farms and we shall continue
to do so.
We declare the rights of the communities to our genetic resources, and
strongly support initiatives such as Thailand’ lawful claim on Jasmine
rice and India’s ownership of Basmati rice. To express this support, we
are elevating these issues at the Asian regional level.
Enriched and energized by our individual and collective struggles for
the local management of biodiversity, we commit ourselves to this pledge
of conservation of and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity.
And before we return to our countries as a token of our pledge, today in
the spirit of friendship we exchange life we exchange our seeds,
knowledge and wisdom past on from generations.
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