By Alfredo Acedo When Solón attended the COP16 last year in Cancun, Mexico, he still served as Bolivia’s ambassador to the UN and led his country’s delegation at the talks on global warming with a…
There’s a global consensus on what has to be done to stop global warming–cut back immediately on emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. But at the Durban COP 17, once again, the U.S. and other developed countries refuse to agree to an international framework for saving the planet.
The link between trade liberalization and food availability is becoming a critical factor that, far from improving living conditions, threatens to deepen and entrench the structural causes of hunger, violence and malnutrition in the region.
Since NAFTA, millions of Mexicans have joined the ranks of the hungry. Malnutrition is highest among the country’s farm families, who used to produce enough food to feed the nation.
The increase in the cost of food, especially basic grains, has serious consequences for southern countries with low incomes and dependency on food imports, and for the millions of families in these countries.
Honey produced by thousands of Mexican beekeepers is at serious risk of contamination from genetically modified soybeans. Producers have called for a new model of social production.
A beautiful green and gold checked carpet hides the tragedy of the Yaqui Valley. This northeastern region of Mexico has been devastated by intensive use of agrochemicals under a capitalist model of agriculture that has polluted the air, soil and water, and lethally affected the lives of its people for more than half a century.
A production model based on soy monoculture results in economic growth, but also causes social instability that can lead to political crises. The temptation is to use armed force to resolve them.
China is at the top of Brazil’s agenda for international relations due to the possibility of increasing exports at a time when prices for its products are high, strategic diplomatic relations between the two counties through the emerging economy agenda of the BRIC, and China’s growing influence as an investor in Latin America.
Although the right to food is now recognized in the Constitution, poverty, hunger and exclusion in the country have worsened to the point that to put the right to food in practice requires a radical transformation in the economic model.