LaVia Campesina press conference 

(Cochabamba,April 21 2010) The international peasant movement La Via Campesinaheld a press conference on April 21 at the Peoples’ WorldConference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. ThePeoples’ Conference is being held from April 19 thru 22, and wasorganized by the Bolivian government in order to build an agendato combat climate change.

 

LaVia Campesina has a delegation of 300 peasants from 20 countries atthe conference, who are there to present sustainable, peasantagriculture as a solution to halt climate change. According to HenrySaragih, General Coordinator of La Via Campesina who is a peasantfrom the Indonesian Peasant Union, La Via Campesina has beenfollowing the issue of climate change since December 2007 at the UNclimate talks in Bali. “The governments are not implementing realsolutions to this crisis,” said Saragih. “La Via Campesinarejects the false solutions to climate change being proposed by mostgovernments, and demands a change in the economic system.”

 

Asa comprehensive solution to climate change, La Via Campesina proposesa shift from the model of food production based on industrialagriculture to one based on sustainable, peasant agriculture. Whenagricultural production, land use changes, processing, packaging,transport, as well as the decomposition of organic waste are allaccounted for, industrial agriculture contributes about one-half ofgreenhouse gas emissions, and is the single biggest cause of globalwarming.

Saragihcited La Via Campesina’s document Tenagricultural policies to stop climate changewhich include: 1) support sustainable agriculture; 2) reduce the useof agrochemicals; 3) develop local agriculture systems; 4) protectbiodiversity; 5) decentralize energy production; 6) stop plantationsof monoculture crops; 7) implement genuine agrarian reform; 8) stopindustrial livestock production; 9) support local, fresh,minimally-processed foods; and 10) stop deforestation.

 

JosieRiffaud, a peasant from the “Confederation Paysanne” in Franceand a member of La Via Campesina’s international coordinatingcommittee, reaffirmed that La Via Campesina rejects false solutionsto climate change such as the carbon credit market, agrofuels andgenetically-modified crops. “These are technical solutions, andthey are false solutions. La Via Campesina proposes that the solutionto climate change lies with sustainable, peasant agriculture,” saidRiffaud.

 

“Wepeasants are important to the world because small farmers feed 50percent of humanity,” said Alberto Gomez, a peasant from theNational Union of Regional Autonomous Peasant Organizations inMexico, who is also an international coordinator of La Via Campesina.“When you take into account small-scale urban food producers,fisherfolk, pastoralists and hunters and gatherers, peasants areresponsible for 70 percent of global food production.”

 

“LaVia Campesina welcomes the effort by Bolivian President Evo Moralesto organize this conference. We are very happy to be here becausethis is not a technocratic conference. There is strong participationby many diverse people,” affirmed Riffaud. “The result of thisconference will be a declaration that will be presented at the nextUN climate talks. This will be the first time that people around theworld will arrive at the UN talks with a well-elaborated, alternativeproposal. In Copenhagen we said ‘change the system, not theclimate’; here in Cochabamba we are elaborating solutions andproposing concrete measures that will be presented in Cancun, Mexicoin December.”

 

Mediacontacts(interviews with representatives of La Via Campesina in Cochabamba)

Boaventura Monjane – Phone: (00591) 74815401; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Isabelle Delforge – Phone: (00591) 74306257; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it