Learning from the Indirect Land Use Change Debate

For the last few years, environmental advocates and ethanol producers have been mired in a debate over something known as indirect land use change (ILUC), a measure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by, but not directly associated with, biofuel production. The controversy centers on these questions: Does ethanol demand in the U.S.

Minnesota businesses plan for future in green chemistry

MINNEAPOLIS – Over 200 business owners, entrepreneurs and green chemistry advocates will come together for the second annual Minnesota Green Chemistry Conference tomorrow, co-hosted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy (CSTPP).

IATP comments to EPA Administrator on Dioxin Reassessment

January 17, 2012 The Honorable Lisa P. Jackson Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Ariel Rios Building Washington, DC 20460 Dear EPA Administrator Jackson:

Off the rails: Food security and the WTO

Washington D.C., December 21, 2011 – At a World Social Forum event in 2006, Walden Bello warned that the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was careening down a track to disaster. Negotiators urgently needed to pull back before the Round went off a cliff, the founder of Focus on the Global South said.

Statement on agriculture and carbon emissions trading

Statement by IATP at the 17th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in response to President Jacob Zuma's committing the South African presidency of the COP to producing a decision to start an agricultural work program as a Durban "deliverable", and what Africa will get for helping to engineer this decision.

Civil Society Intervention in the Strategy Panel 2: Creating More with Less

 My intervention is in the context of the discussion around growing more out of less, or in other words, a green economy whose primary focus is on resource efficiency improvement.

Civil Society Intervention in the Plenary Panel 2: Understanding the Nexus

 Referring to the presentation by Global compact person, on integrating:  1. governance, 2. pricing as a means of valuing Natural resources, and 3. the need for integration of social economic and environmental aspect, this intervention is to share a different perspective on the same issues.

A Risky Proposition. Crop Insurance in the Face of Climate Change

Recent Farm Bill Bill proposals to expand crop insurance for U.S. farmers have failed to acknowledge threats to agriculture from climate change. Not including climate adaption for agriculture at the same time could threaten food security and farmers livelihoods and increase costs for taxpayers.

A Risky Proposition

In the last year, the U.S. has experienced some of the most severe floods and droughts in recent history.

Monsanto's Roundup-Ready crops increasing herbicide use

Genetically engineering plants to be Roundup-Ready has been a contributor to large-scale industrial agriculture. This has also created the development of weed resistance, with Roundup resistance having grown into a big problem because it is overused, poorly managed and the risks were downplayed.