COMUNIDADES DE SEIS CONTINENTES SE MOVILIZAN CONTRA EL GAS Y EL FRACKING

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Food

Alrededor del 13 octubre, más de 70 grupos de seis continentes participarán en el Día Global de Acción Gasdown-Frackdown, mostrando una lucha unitaria contra la industria del gas, del fracking y petroquímica.

Se están organizando acciones en Norteamérica, América del Sur, África, Europa, Asia y Oceanía.

El Gasdown-Frackdown conecta luchas internacionales contra el gas y el fracking, incluyendo una acción de victimas de lodos tóxicos originados por extracción de gas en Indonesia, una manifestación en Australia Occidental, teatro callejero en Ámsterdam, una manifestación en Nigeria, un webinario sobre los impactos sobre la salud de la producción de gas y un carnaval anti-fracking en Reino Unido. Incluye también la lucha contra la contaminación por plástico conectada a los combustibles fósiles y el fracking. Exigimos reales soluciones para nuestro clima – las personas y el clima no aguantan una generación mas de combustibles fósiles.

Miles de personas por todo del mundo sufren los impactos de infraestructuras gasísticas impuestas agresivamente sobre las comunidades locales. Con frecuencia no se respeta la democracia local, se anulan derechos sobre las tierras, se envenenan fuentes de agua y se contamina el medio ambiente. Todo esto con el falso pretexto que el gas es una solución para nuestro clima, un combustible necesario a medio plazo. Sin embargo, considerando la cadena completa de suministro, el gas no es un combustible más limpio que el petróleo o el carbón.

Además, la industria del gas/de la petroquímica aumenta el uso del gas obtenido vía fracking para la producción de plástico, creando un ciclo de contaminación devastador para el medio ambiente, nuestros océanos y el clima. Se están destinando enormes cantidades de dinero público, inversiones privadas y apoyo político hacia la industria del gas, empeorando el cambio climático y elevando el riesgo de sobrepasar importantes puntos de inflexión climáticos. También contribuye a agravar la asfixiante contaminación por plástico a escala global, limitando la apuesta por la eficiencia energética y las energías renovables.

En torno al 13 octubre, comunidades en todo el mundo organizarán acciones descentralizadas, exigiendo un futuro sin combustibles fósiles y soluciones reales.

Read in English

Contactos:

Frida Kieninger, Food & Water Europe, [email protected], Tel.: +32 487 2499 05

Kjell Kühne, Gastivists, [email protected], Tel.: +52-1-9671053425

Notas:

Página Web de Gastivists:https://gasdown-frackdown.org/

Página Web de Food & Water Europe: https://www.foodandwatereurope.org/

Block Bayer-Monsanto Merger, Says Major New Legal Study

Friends of the Earth Europe, WeMove.EU, Food & Water Europe, SumOfUs

For immediate release: Monday October 16

Brussels, October 16 – The proposed merger between Bayer and Monsanto should be blocked under EU competition law, according to a major new study from University College London to be released on World Food Day.

The authors of the report claim that the European Commission should be obliged to block the merger – which is currently under an in-depth investigation from the European Commission – even on a narrow reading of EU competition law.

The analysis concludes that the “Baysanto” merger should be blocked as:

  • It would reduce competition: It concentrates even further an already tightly-packed agriculture sector. Just three mega-companies (ChemChina-Syngenta, DuPont-Dow and Bayer-Monsanto) would own and sell about 64% of the world’s pesticides, and 60% of the world’s patented seeds.
  • It would raise prices and farmer dependency: One-stop inclusive packages of all services needed for agriculture (seeds, pesticides, and also “digital farming” products) would lock farmers into the company’s value chain, making them technologically dependent and facing price hikes in seeds and pesticides.
  • Asset selling won’t solve the crisis: Even if the Commission forces the companies to sell off some products the market is already so concentrated that divesting particular products will not address the merger’s negative effects on future competition in the seeds markets.
  • It would stifle alternative businesses: The three mega-corporations controlling the global food value chain would “entrench the market power of the dominant players for the decades to come”, thereby freezing more sustainable forms of agriculture

The academics also call on the European Commission to broaden its investigation of the merger to take into account the full social and environmental costs, as they are likely to “lead to important risks for food security and safety, biodiversity… [and risks for] affordable food prices, high quality of food, variety and innovation”.

Adrian Bebb, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said: “EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager has more than enough arguments to block the unholy alliance of Bayer and Monsanto, and send a strong signal that the EU is prepared to stand up to these mega-corporations in order to protect farmers, citizens and our environment.

“The consolidation taking place between these agriculture giants would have major impacts on the future of our countryside, rural livelihoods and our environment. It is vital that the European Commission widens its investigation to ensure that we retain the possibility to move agriculture onto a sustainable and resilient footing to help counter climate change and halt biodiversity loss.”

Earlier this year over 200 civil society organisations called on European Competition Commissioner Vestager to stop the current wave of mergers in the agri-business sector. Almost 900,000 citizens have signed petitions calling for the Commission to act.

 

 

 

 

The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking

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WaterFoodCommon Resources

Learn more in the report.

DOWNLOAD PDF VIEW ON SCRIBD

“In many ways, fracking is the environmental issue of our time.

“It’s an issue that touches on every aspect of our lives — the water we drink, the air we breathe, the health of our communities — and it is also impacting the global climate on which we all depend.

“It pits the largest corporate interests — big oil and gas companies and the political leaders who support them — against people and the environment in a long-term struggle for survival.

“It is an issue that has captivated the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of people across the United States, Europe and across the globe. And it is an area in which, despite the massive resources of the Frackopoly — the cabal of oil and gas interests promoting this practice — we as a movement are making tremendous strides as our collective power continues to grow. As this report lays out, there is mounting evidence that fracking is inherently unsafe.

“Evidence builds that fracking contaminates water, pollutes air, threatens public health, causes earthquakes, harms local economies and decreases property values.

“We first made the case for a ban on fracking in 2011, but this report shows that there is an urgent case for a ban. The evidence is in, and it is clear and overwhelming. Fracking is inherently unsafe, cannot be regulated and should be banned. Instead, we should transition aggressively to a renewable and efficient energy system.” — Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Europe