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Open letter to President von der Leyen: Withdraw the CAP

Food & Water Action Europe is joining over 25 other NGOs in a joint letter to Commission President Von der Leyen, to call on the European Commission to withdraw its proposal on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We demand the European Commission to table a new proposal that is based on supporting farmers in the transition away from industrial agriculture, to a Green Deal-compatible CAP, investing the hundreds of billions available in farming practices that work with nature and within ecological limits, support citizens’ health and wellbeing, and thus safeguard our ability to produce food into the future

This letter is signed by:

ARC2020
BeeLife – European Beekeeping Coordination
Biodynamic Federation – Demeter International
BirdLife Europe and Central Asia
CambiamoAgricoltura Coalition, Italy
ClientEarth
Coalition Living Earth, Poland
Compassion in World Farming
Corporate Europe Observatory
EuroNatur Foundation
EUROPARC Federation
European Environmental Bureau
European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS)
European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
Food & Water Action Europe
Friends of the Earth Europe
Greenpeace
Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Meng Landwirtschaft Coalition, Luxembourg
Pesticide Action Network Europe
Safe Food Advocacy Europe (SAFE)
Slow Food Europe
Vier Pfoten
Voedsel Anders Nederland
Wetlands International Europe
WWF – European Policy Office

España lidera el alarmante avance de la ganadería industrial en Europa

29 de octubre de 2020

  • Entre 2013 y 2019 se instalaron en España granjas industriales a un ritmo de casi 20.000 cerdos a la semana. España alberga más cerdos que ningún otro país europeo.
  • El crecimiento de la producción está impulsado por la exportación, principalmente a China. – España es líder en uso de antibióticos, contaminación del agua y contaminación del aire asociados a este modelo de producción.
  • La proliferación de explotaciones ganaderas industriales ha generado una gran movilización social de rechazo en el medio rural debido a las graves consecuencias para la salud que generan por la contaminación del agua potable y del aire.

El informe, publicado hoy en España por Amigos de la Tierra y Food & Water Action Europe y que se presentará esta tarde en el evento digital “La ganadería industrial en Europa”, analiza los riesgos que este avance supone para nuestra salud, nuestra seguridad alimentaria y el cambio climático, sin olvidar su relación con la propagación de virus como el COVID19.

“La ganadería industrial está poniendo en riesgo nuestra salud. La dosificación rutinaria de antibióticos a los animales está aumentando el riesgo de que las bacterias resistentes a los antibióticos acaben en la carne”, afirma David Sánchez Carpio, autor del informe y director de Food & Water Action Europe. “Pero este no es el único riesgo. Cada año miles de personas en zonas rurales de España ven limitado su acceso a agua potable en sus hogares debido a la contaminación por nitratos y nuestro país lleva años superando los límites de emisiones de amoniaco”.

El informe revela también cómo las condiciones de trabajo inseguras en las granjas industriales y los mataderos están poniendo en peligro a las personas trabajadoras y aumentando la propagación de enfermedades, como se ha visto recientemente en relación con la pandemia del COVID19.

“La crisis del COVID-19 ha demostrado la fragilidad e inhumanidad de un sistema basado en conseguir carne barata.” Ha recordado Andrés Muñoz Rico, responsable de Soberanía Alimentaria de Amigos de la Tierra: “Pero este no es un fenómeno exclusivamente español. El riesgo de desaparición de la ganadería extensiva se está dando en toda Europa y necesitamos una acción urgente de los responsables políticos nacionales y de la UE”.

Recientemente el Consejo de Ministros de Agricultura de la UE y el Parlamento Europeo han aprobado la regulación de una Política Agrícola Común que, según denuncian las organizaciones, implica continuar financiando a la ganadería industrial, pese al impacto climático, medioambiental y social de dicho modelo.

“No es admisible lo aprobado la semana pasada en Bruselas, ya que pone aún más en riesgo los modelos de ganadería más sostenibles y marca un camino erróneo hacia una política alimentaria que no permitirá el cumplimiento de los objetivos climáticos y de conservación de la biodiversidad del Acuerdo de París y de la nueva Estrategia Europea de Biodiversidad para 2030” confirma David Sánchez.

“Si se ratifica lo aprobado por el Consejo y el Parlamento Europeo, se mantendrán los pagos acoplados que no tendrán ninguna condicionalidad medioambiental, tales como mantener densidades máximas para el ganado o que las explotaciones ganaderas cumplan con la Directiva Marco del Agua. Desde la sociedad civil reclamamos a la Comisión Europea que dé un giro radical hacia una nueva política agraria más sostenible para el planeta y las personas, rechazando la actual regulación aprobada ” ha afirmado Andrés Muñoz.

El evento de presentación del informe tendrá lugar el jueves 29 a través de las redes sociales de Amigos de Tierra a las 18:00 junto a la Coordinadora Estatal Stop Ganadería Industrial. Este evento es el cierre de una serie de encuentros organizados por Amigos de la Tierra en el marco del Mes por un sistema alimentario más justo para las personas y el planeta. Todos los eventos difundidos junto a la campaña internacional contra la agricultura industrial se encuentran disponibles en la web de Amigos de la Tierra.

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Más información:  

Andrés Muñoz Rico, responsable de Soberanía Alimentaria de Amigos de la Tierra, 615 082 889

David Sánchez Carpio, director de Food & Water Action Europe, +32 485 842 604

Notas:  

Estimación del ritmo de instalación de granjas industriales en España ha sido realizada a partir de los datos recogidos en: Dirección General de Producción y Mercados Agrarios, 2020. El Sector de la Carne de Cerdo en Cifras. Principales Indicadores Económicos 2019 https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/ganaderia/temas/produccion-y-mercados-ganaderos/indicadoreseconomicoscarnedecerdo2019_tcm30-379728.pdf (página 12)

International Movement Seeks to Stop #Fracking4Plastics Antwerp Expansion

Environmental groups ask Flemish Environment Minister and Regions4 Climate Network’s Vice-President to reject permit for Ineos Project One 

Brussels, 15 October 2020

A new expansion plan championed by petrochemical company Ineos, which would further deepen the environmentally disastrous connection between the plastics industry and the US fracking boom, is drawing international opposition.

In 2016, Ineos – the largest ethylene producer in Europe – began importing fracked US ethane to Europe to turn into plastics at its facilities in the UK and Norway. The company now wants to invest €3billion to build a new ethane ‘cracker’ and a propylene producing propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in the Port of Antwerp.

Despite fierce opposition from local groups, the Flemish administration gave a positive opinion for the environmental permit, giving the green light for the commencement of the project, including the deforestation of an area of 50-55 hectares. Flemish Minister of the Environment Zuhal Demir – who is the Vice-President for Europe by the climate and biodiversity network Regions4 – has until the end of October to ratify the advice.

An open letter signed by nearly 70 international groups, NGOs, networks and associations – which include Food & Water Action Europe, #BreakFreeFromPlastic, the Rethink Plastic alliance, Friends of the Earth Europe, Ireland and Scotland, Fractracker Alliance, UK Youth Climate Coalition, Zero Waste Europe, Carbon Market Watch, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania and members of the #IneosWillFall campaign – urge Demir to object to the current deforestation request as well as the PDH plant and ethane cracker.

The letter refers to the ambitions of the Regions4 network to fight climate change and biodiversity loss at the global level, and highlights the negative climate and environmental impacts of fracking and plastic production. It emphasises the need to take cumulative and transboundary climate and environmental effects into account, paying attention to the significant full lifecycle emissions along the supply chain. The signatories also refer to the ongoing unsolved plastic pellet pollution in protected Ramsar and Natura 2000 sites, and demand that no deforestation be allowed before any permitting decisions will be made on the ethane cracker and the PDH unit.

“Apart from the fact that Ineos relies on climate hostile fracked US gas for their plans, we also see a clear breach of the existing Natura 2000 legislation that must be addressed”, says Andy Gheorghiu, policy advisor and campaigner for Brussels based NGO Food & Water Action Europe. 

Delphine Lévi Alvarès, Rethink Plastic alliance coordinator adds: “The European Union aims at being an international climate and environmental champion by tackling global warming and toxic plastic pollution and has set itself high targets to achieve this. Allowing this project to go ahead would take the EU, and particularly Belgium, a big step backwards from its energy and climate targets and the goals of the Paris Agreement.”

“Ineos is a climate and environmental disaster — benefiting from fracking in the U.S. while attempting to bring the dangerous practice to the United Kingdom and mainland Europe to produce more plastic waste,” says Sarah Moyes, plastic and circular economy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland. “This company’s plans have been, and will be, met with a passionate, committed grassroots movement on both sides of the Atlantic.”

“The #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement brings nearly 1,900 organisations around the world together to fight plastic pollution. The #Fracking4Plastics business of INEOS is fuelling the climate and plastic crisis, but together we can put a stop to their practices and expansion plans,” concludes Von Hernandez, global coordinator of Break Free From Plastic. 

Link to letter

International Objection (EN) – August 2019

International Objection (NL) – August 2019

 

 

Contacts:

Andy Gheorghiu, Policy advisor and Campaigner, Food & Water Action Europe,

email: [email protected], mobile: +49 160 20 30 974

Delphine Lévi Alvarès, Rethink Plastic Alliance Coordinator,

email: [email protected]

Sarah Moyes, Plastic and Circular Economy Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Scotland

email: [email protected]

Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator of Break Free From Plastic

email: [email protected]

Climate and health crises driven by factory farms across Europe, says new report

Campaigners urge EU to phase out all factory farms by 2040

Read the report: The Urgent Case to Stop Factory Farms in Europe

Brussels, October 8 – Factory-farmed meat production in the EU is on the rise, and is putting the climate and human health at risk according to a new report released today from Food & Water Action Europe and Friends of the Earth Europe.

A rise in industrial meat production in the European Union has been accompanied by a rapid decline in the number of small farms. This has led to a dangerous rise of “factory farms”, characterised by large numbers of animals confined in crowded spaces.

The report reveals that:

  • Unsafe working conditions on factory farms and slaughterhouses put workers in danger and increase the spread of diseases including COVID-19;
  • Global production of soybeans for animal feed, and the resulting deforestation, are exacerbating the climate crisis, constituting around 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions originating from human activity;
  • The European meat sector is dominated by a few large corporations who are increasing in size through mergers and acquisitions. Vertical integration threatens the existence of small-scale farmers, drops the prices for producers and leaves all the profits with agribusiness;
  • The routine dosing of antibiotics to factory farmed animals is increasing the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria ending up in meat;
  • Manure from livestock farming severely contributes to air pollution (namely via ammonia emissions) and water pollution (via nitrate outputs) – a serious health risk for people living near factory farms.

Stanka Becheva, food and farming campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said: “Intensive animal farming is on the rise in Europe and it has already had devastating impacts on nature, peasant farming, our health and rural areas. The COVID-19 crisis has proved the fragility and inhumanity of the system which makes cheap meat possible, and how much it depends on unethical and unfair conditions for workers. We need urgent action from EU and national policy makers to change this.”

David Sánchez Carpio, director of EU affairs at Food & Water Action Europe said: “The rise of factory farming in Europe is the result of misguided political choices. The European Commission should use the Farm to Fork strategy to shift this trend, ban factory farms in Europe and to support a just transition into a socially and environmentally friendly livestock sector.”

The European Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy pledges to reduce the environmental and climate impact of animal production. However, no concrete actions are suggested to tackle the root causes of the problem.

Friends of the Earth Europe and Food & Water Action Europe are calling on the European Commission use its upcoming ‘legislative framework for sustainable food systems’ to:

  • Propose concrete action to stop the construction of new factory farms and phase out existing ones by 2040.
  • Develop a transition fund for workers in factory farms and the meat industry to shift into more sustainable jobs
  • Support sustainable small-scale livestock producers and decentralised meat processing facilities that contribute to rural development

ENDS

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Open letter: Commission turning blind eye to new GMOs

17 September 2020

88 civil society and farmers organisations from across Europe are today warning the EU Commission is turning a blind eye to new GMOs and demanding EU health and food safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides keeps new GMOs regulated, in an open letter.

The controversial new generation of food genetic engineering techniques should be subject to EU safety checks and consumer labelling, according to an EU Court of Justice ruling, but the organisations complain the European Commission is not implementing this ruling.

Public letter to EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner

New Irish Government Vows to Ban Imports of Fracked Gas and Cease Support for Shannon LNG Terminal

Dublin, 29 June 2020

Members of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, the major political parties in Ireland, voted by a substantial majority to enter into a historic three-party coalition with the Green Party, endorsing a new programme for government that would end support for the controversial Shannon LNG project, removing it from the EU Projects of Common Interest list, and developing a policy statement to stop the imports for fracked gas altogether.

The EU Projects of Common Interest list covers priority energy infrastructure projects to be built in Europe, drawn up by the European Commission, member states and the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG). Approved projects become eligible for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

The development in Ireland represents a major milestone for climate activists on both sides of the Atlantic, and is also a major blow for New Fortress Energy, the US investor of the Shannon LNG project that is behind the strongly criticized Gibbstown LNG export terminal proposed in New Jersey, USA.

“The Emerald Isle is lighting the way into a global frack-free future”, says Andy Gheorghiu, policy advisor for Food & Water Action Europe and co-initiator of the Irish campaign. “This Irish Government is set to become a true climate champion and will hopefully become an example to be followed by all European Member States.”

Food & Water Action executive director Wenonah Hauter said, “The Shannon LNG project would fuel more fracking in communities across the US who have suffered for over a decade from air and water pollution inextricably linked to this destructive industry. Fracking and gas infrastructure have no place in a sustainable future on either side of the Atlantic. By committing to removing Shannon LNG from the PCI list and stopping LNG imports, Ireland’s new government is showing the leadership we need to move the world rapidly off fossil fuels.”