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The minister must now reassure the nation that the moratorium will not lead to a back door entry of Bt brinjal or the 41 other food crops which are in different stages of trial in the country.
Stringent monitoring measures should be immediately put in place to ensure that no releases of GM crops happen and a strong message be sent out by making GM developers liable for any accidental or illegal releases.
The moratorium is a good step towards charting the path for sustainable agriculture and food security for our country.
Notes to Editor
The report of the minister is available at
http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/minister_REPORT.pdf
Vision, video, photos, report information
Rajesh Krishnan, campaign Manager, Sustainable Agriculture Campaign, Greenpeace- Mob: +91-98456 50032, email: rajesh.krishnan@greenpeace.org Dr. Seema Javed-Sr.Media Officer Greenpeace -91-99100 59765
Right now, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is deciding if he'll allow corporations with American interests to genetically engineer India's King of Vegetables—the brinjal. The U.S.-backed companies say that Bt Brinjal will be free from pests, but Indian farmers have successfully grown brinjal for thousands of years without this toxic gene.
Moreover, there have been no tests to prove its viability for human consumption. Rats fed on Bt Brinjal had diarrhoea and liver weight decrease. If Bt Brinjal is grown in India, it could contaminate traditional brinjal farms as well, thus tainting India's food supply forever.
The introduction of Bt Brinjal has been rejected equivocally at all the public consultations that have taken place so far. But Jairam Ramesh is yet to give his verdict on this issue.
Greenpeace is launching a new campaign to persuade Mr. Ramesh to protect India's brinjal: We're going to make the World's Biggest Baingan Bharta, in Delhi!
The baingan bharta will have one brinjal for every person who signs our petition. We will present the names of all the signers to Mr. Ramesh. Our goal is 10,000 brinjals.
The petition says: "India should not allow our brinjals to be contaminated by corporations with American interests."
Add a brinjal by signing our petition today and ask your friends and family to do the same.
http://greenpeace.in/safefood/the-biggest-baingan-bharta-ever/
Moreover, there have been no tests to prove its viability for human consumption. Rats fed on Bt Brinjal had diarrhoea and liver weight decrease. If Bt Brinjal is grown in India, it could contaminate traditional brinjal farms as well, thus tainting India's food supply forever.
The introduction of Bt Brinjal has been rejected equivocally at all the public consultations that have taken place so far. But Jairam Ramesh is yet to give his verdict on this issue.
Greenpeace is launching a new campaign to persuade Mr. Ramesh to protect India's brinjal: We're going to make the World's Biggest Baingan Bharta, in Delhi!
The baingan bharta will have one brinjal for every person who signs our petition. We will present the names of all the signers to Mr. Ramesh. Our goal is 10,000 brinjals.
The petition says: "India should not allow our brinjals to be contaminated by corporations with American interests."
Add a brinjal by signing our petition today and ask your friends and family to do the same.
http://greenpeace.in/safefood/the-biggest-baingan-bharta-ever/
Add a Baingan now
Donate to Help us make the Bharta
New Delhi, 25 January 2010 - Greenpeace welcomes the position taken by Ministers of the BASIC group of countries (Brazil, China, India and South Africa), who met yesterday in New Delhi, to continue negotiations on a fair and ambitious climate agreement within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, Greenpeace emphasised that such an agreement needs to be legally binding in order to ensure its implementation.
In their joint statement, ministers from the four leading emerging economies called for meetings of the climate convention's working groups on long-term co-operative action and the Kyoto Protocol to be held in March 2010. They also want the working groups to meet at least five times before the next major UN climate conference which is scheduled to start on 29 November 2010, in Mexico.
The Ministers underlined that UN climate talks occupy a central position and they called for all negotiations to be conducted in an inclusive and transparent manner. They also outlined their desire for better South-South scientific co-operation and support for vulnerable countries to adapt to climate change.Greenpeace is encouraged by the willingness of the BASIC group to support vulnerable countries, both by ensuring their participation in open and transparent negotiations and by providing technological and or financial support.
However, Greenpeace is calling on the BASIC countries to make this support more tangible by the time of its next meeting that the South African government is to host in April 2010.
Greenpeace also noted the further consolidation of the BASIC countries as a group and urges them to assume the responsibilities that go with an alliance of such influential economic powers.
Though the BASIC countries demonstrating leadership in furthering negotiations on a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement, Greenpeace wants them to exert pressure on industrialised counties to
urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make their own appropriate contributions in emission reductions.
"Continued inaction by governments would allow global warming to engulf us all," said Siddharth Pathak, Climate and Energy Policy Officer, Greenpeace India. "If we are to keep this demon at bay and avoid dangerous climate change, industrialised countries must cut their emissions together, 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and provide massive financial and technological support to enable developing nations as a whole to reduce their projected growth in emissions by 15-30% over the same timescale. It's not easy but the consequences of failure would be among our worst nightmares," he said.
In their joint statement, ministers from the four leading emerging economies called for meetings of the climate convention's working groups on long-term co-operative action and the Kyoto Protocol to be held in March 2010. They also want the working groups to meet at least five times before the next major UN climate conference which is scheduled to start on 29 November 2010, in Mexico.
The Ministers underlined that UN climate talks occupy a central position and they called for all negotiations to be conducted in an inclusive and transparent manner. They also outlined their desire for better South-South scientific co-operation and support for vulnerable countries to adapt to climate change.Greenpeace is encouraged by the willingness of the BASIC group to support vulnerable countries, both by ensuring their participation in open and transparent negotiations and by providing technological and or financial support.
However, Greenpeace is calling on the BASIC countries to make this support more tangible by the time of its next meeting that the South African government is to host in April 2010.
Greenpeace also noted the further consolidation of the BASIC countries as a group and urges them to assume the responsibilities that go with an alliance of such influential economic powers.
Though the BASIC countries demonstrating leadership in furthering negotiations on a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement, Greenpeace wants them to exert pressure on industrialised counties to
urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make their own appropriate contributions in emission reductions.
"Continued inaction by governments would allow global warming to engulf us all," said Siddharth Pathak, Climate and Energy Policy Officer, Greenpeace India. "If we are to keep this demon at bay and avoid dangerous climate change, industrialised countries must cut their emissions together, 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and provide massive financial and technological support to enable developing nations as a whole to reduce their projected growth in emissions by 15-30% over the same timescale. It's not easy but the consequences of failure would be among our worst nightmares," he said.
BASIC countries meet in New Delhi to discuss climate change
Statement from Siddharth Pathak, climate policy advisor of Greenpeace India:
January 24, 2010
New Delhi, January 24,2010: "Greenpeace welcomes the position
taken by the Ministers of the BASIC group that met today in New Delhi
to continue negotiations on a fair and ambitious climate agreement
within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. However
Greenpeace wants to insist to the BASIC countries that such an
agreement also needs to be legally binding in order to ensure its
implementation.
Greenpeace is encouraged by the willingness of the BASIC group to support vulnerable countries, both by ensuring their participation in open and transparent negotiations and by providing technological and or financial support. However Greenpeace calls upon the BASIC countries to make this support more tangible by its next meeting in April.
Greenpeace also notes the further consolidation of the BASIC countries as a group and calls upon these countries to ensure they take the responsibility that comes along with the renewed power from their alliance. Greenpeace expects these countries to demonstrate leadership, both in furthering negotiations on a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement, and in terms of both pushing industrialized counties to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions and making their own appropriate contributions in emission reductions, in order to avoid dangerous climate change."
For further information, contact:
Siddharth Pathak, Climate and Energy Policy Officer, Greenpeace India
Tel: +91 99 0288 3738
E-mail: siddharth.pathak@greenpeace.org
Greenpeace is encouraged by the willingness of the BASIC group to support vulnerable countries, both by ensuring their participation in open and transparent negotiations and by providing technological and or financial support. However Greenpeace calls upon the BASIC countries to make this support more tangible by its next meeting in April.
Greenpeace also notes the further consolidation of the BASIC countries as a group and calls upon these countries to ensure they take the responsibility that comes along with the renewed power from their alliance. Greenpeace expects these countries to demonstrate leadership, both in furthering negotiations on a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement, and in terms of both pushing industrialized counties to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions and making their own appropriate contributions in emission reductions, in order to avoid dangerous climate change."
For further information, contact:
Siddharth Pathak, Climate and Energy Policy Officer, Greenpeace India
Tel: +91 99 0288 3738
E-mail: siddharth.pathak@greenpeace.org
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