Prospects seem encouraging for a new international agreement to prevent biopiracy and to ensure fair and equitable benefit sharing from the use of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge. October 2010 is the target for this agreement to be adopted by governments that are Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), when the governments gather in Nagoya, Japan for the biennial Conference of the Parties.
[see more]

In response to an appeal by a global coalition of NGOs, IFC / World Bank President Robert Zoellick has agreed to suspend IFC funding of the oil palm sector pending the development of a revised strategy for dealing with the troubled sector.
[see more]

One of the most destructive developments in agriculture over the past two decades has been the boom in soya production in the southern cone of Latin America. The corporations that led that boom are now moving aggressively into sugar cane, focusing on large tracts of land in southern countries where sugar can be produced cheaply. If these developments are not resisted, the impacts are likely to be severe: local food production will be overrun, workers and communities will face displacement and exposure to increased levels of pesticides, and foreign agribusiness will tighten its grip on sugar production.
[see more]