Study 3: Ecodestruction and the Right to Food: The Cases of Water ...

Starving the Future Study 3
If Northern governments want to help Southern states to fulfill the right to food of malnourished persons
outside agriculture, they could assist in establishing and financing self employment programmes,
employment guarantee schemes and other minimum income provisions for this target group. Already
half the annual subsidies given by Northern tax payers (through their governments) to corporate
agriculture would be more than sufficient to provide each malnourished person in the target group with
an income to buy sustainably produced local food at real prices. 37
States failure to respect and protect agriculture against the onslaught of agribusiness violates the right
to food of millions – and the right to feed oneself of many more. States’ failure to regulate agribusiness,
however, is also a cause of ecodestruction. Agribusiness destroys the top soils and their natural fertility,
it leads to erosion, it pollutes the ground water, it kills animal life in the fields and biodiversity in the
ecosystem, it is energy intensive and relies on fossil fuels, it hinges on abundant water. All these
essential inputs for food production and a healthy life are globally limited, but currently wasted by
agribusiness. Corporate food production is unsustainable - an agricultural dead end providing a flash of
profits for the shareholders and managers, and leaving the future in shambles. For sustainability
agribusiness should be phased out in the North, and certainly not be globalized to the South.
2. Agrobusiness causing genetic erosion and loss of biodiversity
The impact of agribusiness on biodiversity is twofold: The erosion of biodiversity among food producing
species – and the destruction of other species in general. The largest drain on biodiversity in general is
caused by the destruction of primeval forests including rainforests. In this context the hunger for land for
food production is only one of many causes 38. When it comes to the terrestrial species for example in
industrialized countries, agribusiness is the most important destructive force for biodiversity. In
Germany, for example, agribusiness is the single most important reason for the decreasing diversity in
animal and plant life: According to data of the German government 39 for 711 red listed species
(threatened by extinction), agribusiness was among the destructive causes for 513 of them. This was by
far the most importart cause, the second most important cause being monocultural forestry/ hunting (for
338 species). All other causes effected less than 161 species. 40 The reasons for the destructive role of
agribusiness when it comes to biodiversity are manifold: The direct damage from pesticides and
herbicides, the destruction of hedges, and other small ecosystems in order to adapt fields to the needs
of heavy machines, the destruction of small fauna, nests of birds, etc by agribusiness equipment,
fertilizers destroying the biodiversity of the soil and leading to eutrophysation of lakes.
The awareness about the loss of biodiversity among agricultural species (genetic erosion) is not recent.
The reasons for this erosion are overwhelmingly agribusiness activities. For decades, scientists in the
field of biology, biotechnology and Agricultural Research Institutes have been alarmed about this
erosion and its implications on human food production as well as on other vital services of genetic
diversity like medical research and production of medicines. Already in the 1970s, seeds have been a
central issue in the world food discussion. For instance, it appeared as a major concern during the 4 th
session of UNCTAD (UN Conference on Trade and Development) in Nairobi, 1976. Inspite of a
consensus on the vital nature of seeds and genetic diversity for food security biodiversity experiences
new attacks.
i. Biodiversity and food production: relation and risks
Genetic diversity and variety of species is vital because of the services it provides. Genetic diversity of
cultivated plants is necessary in order to breed more productive and more resistent plants (key traits are
most of the time searched in wild varieties by breeders when they cannot find them in cultivated
varieties). Biotechnology cannot make up for varities lost: As stated by John Tuxill, the main problem is
FIAN International 134
June 2002