FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS UPSET AGRICULTURE, FOOD SOVEREIGNTY, SAYS REPORT

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“Not Under the Same Sky: Bilateral Free Trade Agreements, Agriculture and Food Sovereignty,” a new publication, examines how FTAs in the Asia-Pacific affect the region's agriculture and food sovereignty. Find out how you can download this new publication by the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) and the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS).

A newly released report entitled “Not Under the Same Sky: Bilateral Free Trade Agreements, Agriculture and Food Sovereignty” warns of the spread of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) throughout the Asia-Pacific region and their impacts on agriculture and food sovereignty, in the context of the current state of play of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the devastating legacy of agricultural liberalisation through World Bank/International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programmes.

The report examines some provisions in the FTAs which impact farmers and food sovereignty in the areas of intellectual property, sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS), and investment, including actual or projected impacts on relevant national legislation in areas such as biosafety. By tracing how the agriculture sector became subject to global free trade rules at the WTO, the report examines both the interests of corporate capital in FTA moves, as well as broader geopolitical goals of the governments involved in FTAs in the Asia-Pacific.

Researched and written by Aziz Choudry, a New Zealand activist, researcher and writer, the report was published by the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) and the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS).

Download the report at <http://www.panap.net/uploads/media/SR_3_inside_pages.pdf> or <http://www.foodsov.org/resources/resources_000004.pdf>.

Source:
“Not Under the Same Sky: Bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Agriculture and Food Sovereignty” from the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific, posted on February 6, 2007, <http://www.panap.net/48.0.html?&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=340&tx_ttnews[backPid]=69&cHash=05a4da30dc>.