Fwd: Urgent seeds alert !

[Simon Fairlie]

The French seed-saving organization Kokopelli has recently been fined  
35,000 Euros for saving seeds not on the EU list, after being taken  
to court by the seed merchant Baumaux.

> Dear friends,
>
> Seeds represent a genetic heritage built up over 10,000 years of  
> human selection, one of the oldest and most precious treasures  
> belonging to all humanity. The future of this priceless heritage is  
> at stake and decisions of great importance will be taken in the  
> coming months. Will this enormous wealth of traditional seeds which  
> forms the basis of all life on earth be freely available to farmers  
> and gardeners as it was for thousands of years, or will it only  
> belong to a few multinational seed companies?
>
> We see the need to react to two court verdicts against the French  
> association, Kokopelli, which has recently been condemned for  
> illegally producing and selling seeds of traditional plant  
> varieties. It is also urgent to prevent the EU adopting some  
> dangerous directives on seeds which could be voted on soon.
>
> You will find attached further information in the attached letter.  
> Please intervene with the Minister in your country concerned by  
> this question, and send a copy to us. It would be great if you  
> could also inform your friends and colleagues.
>
> We have avoided sending out a model letter as mass mailings of  
> model letters tend to have far less weight than different personal  
> letters. It is important to include the three main demands  
> indicated at the end of the attached letter.
>
> Many thanks for yor help and best wishes, Nicholas Bell, European  
> Civic Forum
>
> Contact : European Civic Forum, St-Hippolyte, F-04300 Limans
> forciveur at yahoo.fr
> Tel. 00.33. (0) 492 73 04 05  /  492 73 00 64
>
> Letters should be sent by post and email to :
>
> The Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn MP
> DEFRA
> Nobel House
> 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR
>
> bennh at parliament.uk and to be doubly sure :  
> secretaryofstate at defra.gsi.gov.uk


MORE INFO BELOW or If you speak french see "On A Perdu" main article  
on the home page of their website.


http://www.kokopelli.asso.fr/

forwarded by  Simon Fairlie


EUROPEAN CIVIC FORUM

St Hippolyte
F- 04300 Limans
Tél.: 0033 (0)4 92 73 05 98 / 492 73 00 64
forciveur at yahoo.fr




								Limans, 17 February 2008





Urgent : Biodiversity under threat !


The French seed association Kokopelli1 condemned for protecting  
biodiversity
Severe risk of a disastrous directive being adopted by the European  
Union concerning seeds of conservation varieties


Dear friends,

Seeds represent a genetic heritage built up over 10,000 years of  
human selection, one of the oldest and most precious treasures  
belonging to all humanity. The future of this priceless heritage is  
at stake and decisions of great importance will be taken in the  
coming months. Will this enormous wealth of traditional seeds which  
forms the basis of all life on earth be freely available to farmers  
and gardeners as it was for thousands of years, or will it only  
belong to a few multinational seed companies?

The French seed industry is leading an unprecedented war for control  
in this field. It has done all in its power to ensure that national  
legislations and European directives make illegal the production and  
sale of reproducible seeds that are not registered in the official  
catalogue of breeds and varieties. This catalogue is almost entirely  
made up of sterile varieties. The situation differs throughout  
Europe. A country like Austria, for example, has taken the opposite  
approach and provides considerable support to initiatives seeking to  
maintain and protect the seeds of traditional varieties.

In the most recent episode of this open war Kokopelli has just been  
condemned in two trials2. This association has created one of the  
largest European collections (2500 reproducible varieties) of  
vegetable, flower and cereal seeds reproducible and accessible both  
to amateurs and to professionals. There are many larger seed banks,  
but they are the property either of big agro-industrial trusts  
(Limagrain, Syngenta, Pioneer…), which reserve them for the  
production of clones and GMOs, or of states which provide little or  
no access for the wider public.

These verdicts could become a dangerous jurisprudential precedent  
affecting the whole of Europe and could prevent other organisations  
seeking to preserve biodiversity from distributing and selling seeds.  
It is urgent to react throughout the European Union. We must make  
clear to all national governments and to the European Commission that  
the citizens of this continent consider it to be absolutely essential  
to protect our heritage of cultivated genetic biodiversity. It is  
therefore vital to adopt European directives that enable associations  
like Kokopelli to pursue the invaluable work they are doing in this  
field.

It is in fact the French government that is keeping Kokopelli in an  
illegal position. For ten years a European directive (98-95 CEE) has  
clearly indicated that everything must be undertaken to safeguard  
varieties under threat of genetic erosion. However, neither France  
nor the European Commission have appled this text which has not been  
transposed into the national legislation. This would have enabled  
Kokopelli to continue its work of conservation and distribution in  
full legality, a task the state is no longer guaranteeing.

Since 1998 other directives have been adopted, partially replacing  
Directive 98-95 CEE. European legislation on seeds is so complex and  
confusing that the European Commission recently decided to carry out  
an evaluation with the aim of ensuring that there is a coherent  
harmonised legal situation throughout the EU. This evaluation, which  
is to be completed by the end of this year, is being carried out in a  
very undemocratic manner with a total lack of transparency. As yet it  
has been impossible to find out which external body has received the  
mission to carry it out. It is essential that there is a genuine  
debate and consultation with all of the actors in the seed sector,  
including organisations involved in the defence of traditional seeds  
and in the conservation of biodiversity.

Everything indicates that the Commission intends to completely  
remodel European seed legislation on the basis of this evaluation,  
which would no doubt take place in 2009. Despite this fact, in its  
meeting on 25 February in Brussels the « Standing Committee on  
Seeds» will be debating the first of four proposals3 on the seeds of  
conservation varieties. These include severe geographic and  
quantitative restrictions to the production, use and sale of seeds  
under threat of genetic erosion (see annexe). The Commission is  
basing its plan to impose such restrictions on the content of  
existing directives which will soon become null and void.


This is why we call on you to send letters, as rapidly as possible,  
to the Minister responsible in your country for the questions of  
seeds and cultivated biodiversity. There are three key demands to make :

Seeds of conservation varieties should not be considered to be a  
matter of minor importance within the general question of seeds,  
subject to regulations imposed without a public debate and  
consultation with all those involved in the sector ;
No directives on seeds of conservation varieties should be adopted  
before the completion of a transparent and democratic evaluation and  
the adoption of new European legislation which reflects the views of  
organisations promoting biodiversity. Discussion of the three draft  
directives on the agenda of the meeting on 25 February should be  
postponed until this date ;
A moratorium should be established covering the period of the  
evaluation and the adoption of definitive new European seed  
legislation to enable the many associations and companies throughout  
Europe to pursue their vital work for the safeguard and distribution  
of traditional seeds. Without such a moratorium these organisations  
will face the risk of being taken to court for the illegal sale of  
seeds. A year without activity in this field will exacerbate the  
already serious erosion of traditional plant varieties.

Please send us copies of your letters. In this way we will be able to  
inform the European Parliament and Commission as well as the media  
that there is Europe-wide concern about this matter.

With our best wishes,

						

							          Nicholas Bell
							    European Civic Forum







Annexe

The texts of the three proposed directives on the agenda of the  
meeting on 25 February are not available yet, either to the public or  
the European Parliament. We can, however, suppose that they will  
resemble the documents already proposed in April 2007.

Draft Commission Directive providing for certain derogations for  
acceptance of
agricultural landraces and varieties which are naturally adapted to the
local and regional conditions and threatened by genetic erosion and  
for marketing of seed and seed potatoes of those landraces and varieties

We are strongly alarmed by this proposal because we consider that it  
does not serve the needs of a satisfactory “on farm” conservation  
of plant genetic resources. Instead of simplifying market access for  
small-scale farmers and producers, it provides for a highly  
restrictive framework for the marketing of seeds of conservation  
varieties.

According to the present proposal, the production, marketing and use  
of the seeds of a conservation variety will be restricted to their  
place of origin. Apart from the fact that the origin of a variety is  
often outside Europe, this is an inappropriate barrier, contradicting  
the idea of consumer and farmer choice. In addition it would block  
the further development of biodiversity which requires exchange to  
ensure regeneration. These restrictions would therefore create an  
obstacle to the viable long-term conservation of varieties facing the  
threat of genetic erosion. They also go against the fundamental  
principle of the free movement of goods within the EU, and contradict  
the principle of the freedom of trade and industry, without any  
justification being presented.

Moreover, there are also quantitative restrictions affecting the  
amount of seeds of a conservation variety which may be produced.  
There are two forms of restriction: a ceiling of 0,5% of the seeds of  
the same species used in the same season in a given member state  
(0,3% of certain species), or of the quantity of seed needed to sow  
20 hectares of the particular variety. These are extremely small  
quantities and are not sufficient to ensure the daily and long-term  
use which is the only way of avoiding the extinction of particularly  
threatened varieties. Once again, no justification is given.

The present proposal would require controls of seed production on  
site, of quantities of marketed seed and of the surface planted for  
each variety. These controls would be expensive and do not comply  
with the principle of proportionality, in view of the modest economic  
relevance of conservation varieties.

The geographic and quantitative restrictions, together with the  
control obligations, put a burden of costs and bureaucracy on to  
farmers and small-scale breeders, instead of facilitating the  
maintenance of conservation varieties through their daily use. This  
goes against the goal of the conservation of biodiversity in  
agriculture, as defined in various international commitments made by  
the EU as well as in the EU Biodiversity strategy. The restrictions  
and control obligations also seem disproportionate with regard to  
consumer protection, as almost no risk for consumers exists, apart  
from purchasing a less uniform selection of seeds. When consumers buy  
seeds of a clearly labelled "conservation variety", they are aware of  
this fact.

What is more, there is a strong call both from farmers and consumers  
that old traditional varieties should be made available again and  
thus find their way back to our plates. All of the restrictions  
proposed by the European Commission represent unjustifiable  
distortions of the freedom of economic operators.

Finally, the geographic restrictions would appear to be totally  
counter-productive, if not suicidal, when one considers the growing  
risks of climate change. Certain zones of origin of plant varieties  
may become no longer adapted for such plants due to problems of  
drought or temperature change. On the other hand, traditional plant  
varieties originating from other countries or even continents may be  
better adapted to these new climatic conditions. It is therefore  
essential to ensure that this heritage built up over millenia is able  
to adapt gradually to changing circumstances.


Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Nicholas Bell" <nicholas.bell at gmx.net>
> Date: 21 February 2008 09:24:08 GMT
> To: <chapter7 at tlio.org.uk>
> Subject: Urgent seeds alert !
> Reply-To: "Nicholas Bell" <nicholas.bell at gmx.net>
>
> Dear friends,
>
> Seeds represent a genetic heritage built up over 10,000 years of  
> human selection, one of the oldest and most precious treasures  
> belonging to all humanity. The future of this priceless heritage is  
> at stake and decisions of great importance will be taken in the  
> coming months. Will this enormous wealth of traditional seeds which  
> forms the basis of all life on earth be freely available to farmers  
> and gardeners as it was for thousands of years, or will it only  
> belong to a few multinational seed companies?
>
> We see the need to react to two court verdicts against the French  
> association, Kokopelli, which has recently been condemned for  
> illegally producing and selling seeds of traditional plant  
> varieties. It is also urgent to prevent the EU adopting some  
> dangerous directives on seeds which could be voted on soon.
>
> You will find attached further information in the attached letter.  
> Please intervene with the Minister in your country concerned by  
> this question, and send a copy to us. It would be great if you  
> could also inform your friends and colleagues.
>
> We have avoided sending out a model letter as mass mailings of  
> model letters tend to have far less weight than different personal  
> letters. It is important to include the three main demands  
> indicated at the end of the attached letter.
>
> Many thanks for yor help and best wishes, Nicholas Bell, European  
> Civic Forum
>
> Contact : European Civic Forum, St-Hippolyte, F-04300 Limans
> forciveur at yahoo.fr
> Tel. 00.33. (0) 492 73 04 05  /  492 73 00 64
>
> Letters should be sent by post and email to :
>
> The Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn MP
> DEFRA
> Nobel House
> 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR
>
> bennh at parliament.uk and to be doubly sure :  
> secretaryofstate at defra.gsi.gov.uk
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