Year: 2015

Main stories

Does peasantry pay the price for a more European Turkey?

November 17, 2015 ARC

By Asutay Meriç, Agrobiodiversity Campaign Intern at Eco Ruralis Following a contentious and  controversial election in Turkey politicians seem to continuously highlight that Turkey is Europe’s first and the World’s 7th largest agricultural producer. Roughly 80% of the hazelnut production, and most  of the fruit and veg that is exported into the EU comes from Turkey. These figures sound impressive. However, for the last decade Turkish peasantry which holds nearly two-thirds of the Turkish farms has been the poorest segment of the society. Their political, economical and cultural rights are constantly violated by the ruling Government itself. According to the Turkish National Institute of Statistics (TNIS) (pdf), agriculture makes up 8,4% of the national income and 25 % of the employment. Its 38.6 million hectares of utilized agricultural land has a segmented structure where an average plot size has around 5 hectares. Turkey, an EU candidate country for more than 15 years, has a very large utilized agricultural areas compared to other European countries. Having such a strong rural base, the country has always been […]

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Huge State Land Sell off in Hungary – who benefits?

November 17, 2015 ARC

A huge sell of of state land is about to happen in Hungary. Beginning 16th November, the Hungarian State will start selling a whopping 380,000 hectares of its land – by the end of the year. In just 44 days, this huge amount of land will be sold off into private ownership. But who is going to get this land? […]

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Cool the Planet, Feed the World – 7. December

October 29, 2015 ARC

Cool the Planet, Feed the World: The Power of Regenerative Food and Farming to Save the Planet At REcyclerie, Paris, France. To date, global climate crisis conversations have focused on solely emissions reduction. While necessary, reducing fossil fuel emissions alone is simply inadequate – it is a 50% solution. Even if we were to cut all human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions today, the globe would continue to warm for decades or even centuries to come. However, there is hope. There is growing scientific evidence that regenerative organic agriculture can reverse climate change through soil carbon sequestration, while at the same time delivering other essential ecological, economic, and health benefits. Given that the industrial food and farming system as a whole is the number one cause of GHG emissions, climate activists need to start thinking of themselves as food, farming and natural health activists as well. Regeneration International is hosting “Cool the Planet, Feed the World: The Power of the Regenerative Food and Farming to Save the Planet” to raise awareness about how regenerative organic agriculture can […]

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Bonn Climate Change Negotiations Kick Off

October 19, 2015 Pavlos Georgiadis

With little time for negotiating left before governments are expected to meet in Paris to agree a new global climate deal, negotiators are meeting once again in Bonn this week for the latest round of UN climate talks. Pavlos Georgiadis is there, and he gives us this report. More will follow during the week. @geopavlos In order to get an adequate agreement, discussions need to intensify efforts to ensure that a range of key elements of the draft text are strengthened. These elements include finance for loss and damage caused by global warming, as well as adaptation and mitigation to the effects of climate change. What is also important to get back into the context of the Paris UNFCCC negotiations, is the language on decarbonisation of the global economy as a source of emerging long term consensus. Also important is scaling up political ambition for action, including regular reviews. Negotiators need to finish this week in Bonn with a text that contains a few clear political options for each of these elements. This text is […]