SEARICE Statement on Geo-Engineering
October 2012
Biodiversity is the cradle of all food produced in the world. We are gravely concerned about the effects of large-scale open-air geoengineering experiments on how smallholder farmers produce your food. The FAO, UN CFS and the CBD, as well as the IAASTD, has recognized that 75 percent of the world’s food is produced by smallholder men and women farmers.We therefore affirm decision X/33 in imposing a moratorium on geo-engineering technologies, and further call for a ban on open-air geo-engineering experiments. We also appreciate the secretariat’s initial work in obtaining the perspectives of ILCs on geo-engineering, however, there is genuine need to obtain the perspectives of smallholder men and women farmers on any technology that may have an adverse impact on how your food is produced. To this end, we support the calls of the Philippines, Ghana, Grenada, India, Bolivia and Ethiopia (in behalf of the African region) to determine the impacts of geoengineering techniques on biodiversity, most specifically on agricultural biodiversity and its impacts on smallholder food producers worldwide. [Ends]