Thursday, 19. 4. 2007
European Parliament, Room PHS 3 C 50
8:00 Registration
9:30 Opening speeches
- Gerald Lonauer, Network of GMO-Free Regional Governments
- Monica Frassoni, Co-President Greens/EFA in the European Parliament
- Benedikt Haerlin, GENET & Foundation on Future Farming
9:45 The Future of Seed: biodiversity, freedom of planting, seed exchange and farmers rights
- Michael Flüh, EU Commission, DG Sanco, Head of Unit biotechnology and plant health
State of the reform of the EU seed law - Natale Bazzanti, agricultural development and innovation agency, ARSIA, Toscana, Italy
Regional laws to protect and enhance local varieties - Hannes Lorenzen, chairman of PREPARE, partnership for rural Europe network and Green Group
European action and networks on conservation and use of biodiversity in agriculture - Benedikt Haerlin, Save Our Seeds
The Manifesto on the Future of Seeds
10:30 Co-existence? The state of laws and debates
- Daniele Bianchi, Cabinet of Commissioner Fischer Boel: State of the art of European co-existence legislation
- Thijs Etty, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam:
Co-existence – The missing link in the EU legislative framework and speech - Ludmila Andreeva, Committee of Environment, Bulgaria:
Bulgaria’s adaptation to European GMO legislation - Odo Wöhry, Regional Parliament of Styria, Austria:
The GM precaution law of the Region of Styria and Styrian GMO law - Katalin Rodics, Ministry of Environment, Hungary:
The Hungarian national approach to coexistence - Marco Contiero, Greenpeace International:
Coexistence = Contamination - Hiroyuki Hashimoto, Hokkaido food safety divison, Japan:
Regional GMO legislation in Hokkaido & fact sheet
11:30 Panel discussion: The impact of GMOs on biodiversity and rural development
- Chantal Bruetschy, European Commission, DG Environment, biotechnolgy
- Friedrich Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, Vice President of the EPs Agricultural Committee
- Wolfgang Koehler, German Ministry of Agriculture (EU presidency)
- Andoni García Arriola, COAG, Spanish farmers union
- Karin Scheele, MEP, Austria
- Helen Holder, Friends of the Earth, Europe
- Marco Contiero, Greenpeace International
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Press briefing, Press Room, PHS 0A50 (EP press centre)
15:00 Views and reports from the regions
- Pascale Loget, Vice-President of the Council of Britanny, France
presentation - Veronika Kochetova, member of the Moscow Duma Comittee on public health services, Russia
presentation & speech - Ryoko Shimizu, No-GMO campaign, Japan
presentation - Pawel Polanecki, Poland
speech - Teresiah W. Ng’ang’a, Programme Officer Pelum association, Kenya
African situation on GMO-free Regions - Luca Colombo, Genetic Rights Foundation, Italy
presentation - Brian John, GMO free Cymru,Wales
speech - Svetla Nikolova, Agrolink Bulgaria
presentation & speech - Annemarie Volling, GMO free Regions coordination, AbL famers association, Germany
presentation - Andrew Kimbrell, Centre for Food Safety, Washington, D.C, USA (visio-conference)
speech & summary
16:30 Biodiversity and rural development in a changing global agricultural commodity market
- Jutta Kill, Forest and EU Resource Network:
Energy plants and commodities – a new industrial approach to agriculture - Hilkka Summa, EU Commission, DG Agriculture, Bioenergy:
The European Union’s approach to energy plants - Raffaello Garofalo, European Biodiesel Board:
A plant-energy producer’s perspective - Günther Buck, Unilever:
A Food Industry perspective - Ursula Vavrik, European Environmental Bureau:
Biodiversity and energy plants - Gerhard Dieterle, The World Bank, agro-fuels and sustainable forest management (visio-conference)
18:30 Reception at the European Parliament
Friday, 20. 4. 2007, Chant d’Oiseau
9:00 The major challenges ahead – Setting the political agenda for 2007 / 2008
- Global perspectives
- Vandana Shiva, Navdanya Seed Movement, India
- Adrian Bebb, Friends of the Earth
- Geert Ritsema, Greenpeace International
Genetic engineering campaign 2006-2010 - Cinzia Scaffidi, Slow Food International
Learning from Hackers - Gerald Lonauer, Network of GMO-Free Regional Governments
- Thomas Fertl, Bio Austria, Austrian organic farmers association
- Luca Colombo, Genetic Rights foundation, Italy
The national debate on GMOs and the agro-food model for Italy - Nikos Lappas, Gesace, Greek Farmers Union
- Joint debate and presentations from the participants
11:00 Workshops
- National and regional legislation, GMO bans and moratoria
- Practicalities of GMO free regions
- GMO-Free Regions world-wide and Preparation of CBD and Biosafety Protocol 2008
- New Scientific findings on oilseed rape
- Honey Bees and GMO
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Animal feed – the hidden GMO invasion
- Alexander Hissting, Greenpeace
Consumer demand and successes for GM labelling of animal products - Jochen Koester, IMCOPA Brazil
The supply situation in Brazil – a producers perspective - Renaud Layadi, Regional Council of Brittany, France
Trans-Regional co-operation to safeguard GM free animal feed
15:00 Results and Conclusions
- Upcoming political events
- Call for a Global GMO-Free Diversity Summit in Bonn, May 2008
16:00 Farewell and end of conference
17:00 Start of the GENET meeting (members only)