A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
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workers. Otherwise, it’s a race to the bottom. Governments are beginning to realise that some takeovers by
foreign companies, like the recent takeover of Cadbury by Kraft, are not in the national interest.
Bioregionalism Almost certainly bioregionalism will be a major part of a transformed global economy by
developing prosperous and sustainable local and regional economies, so as to reduce the need to transport
goods over vast distances, secure adequate resources everywhere and address the huge differences in
wellbeing. Bioregionalism could play a large part in building self-sufficiency and releasing creative energy.
Wikipedia defines bioregionalism as “a political, cultural, and environmental system based on naturallydefined
areas. Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental features, including watershed
boundaries and soil and terrain characteristics. Bioregionalism stresses that the determination of a bioregion
is also a cultural phenomenon, and emphasizes local populations, knowledge, and solutions”.
In UK, bioregionalism could rejuvenate less prosperous regions and address the over concentration on
London and the South East. It could help overcome joblessness and the waste of skills and lives in the North.
Less new building would be needed in the over-crowded South East, where nature’s resources and
infrastructure already severely overstretched.
Whole system change is needed. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the UN General Assembly, at
the High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals, 25 September 2008, referring to the goal to
eliminate poverty, said that for the first time in history, we have the capacity to do this. However, unfair
trade practices, developed countries' lavish agricultural subsidies, not only of food exports to poor countries
but also of fertilisers, delay development and shut poor countries out of markets while high taxes on poor
countries’ products amount to a “perverse tax”. The Assembly must garner the strong sense of solidarity and
awaken the political will to turn this crisis into an opportunity to transform a world system that denies the
poor a right as basic as the right to food. He noted the World Bank’s conclusion is that 75 per cent of the
increase in food prices stems from the rapidly growing demand for bio-fuels.
Here are edited extracts from his address:
Only a fraction of international aid is earmarked for improving agricultural productivity. Faced with
today's world food crisis we must speak out on behalf of our brothers and sisters and say "This is not
right". Now is the time to help the poorest countries to boost their food and agricultural production.
Together these factors have shaped a food production system that puts private economic interests
ahead of people's basic dietary needs.
The essential purpose of food, which is to nourish people, has been subordinated to the economic
aims of a handful of multinational corporations that monopolize all aspects of food production, from
seeds to major distribution chains, and they have been the prime beneficiaries of the world crisis. A
look at the figures for 2007, when the world food crisis began, shows that corporations such as
Monsanto and Cargill, which control the cereals market, saw their profits increase by 45 and 60 per
cent, respectively; the leading chemical fertilizer companies such as Mosaic Corporation, a subsidiary
of Cargill, doubled their profits in a single year.
At the same time, in response to the financial crisis, major hedge funds have shifted millions of
dollars into agricultural products. These funds control 60 per cent of the supply of wheat and other
basic grains. Most of these crops are purchased as "futures". In other words, speculators have been
increasingly active in food-related financial markets.
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