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| The 16th Organic World Congress of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Unites the Organic World in Modena, Italy |
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01/21/2008
MODENA BIO 2008, A TOP LEVEL CONGRESS |
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The Sixteenth
IFOAM Organic World Congress will be held in Modena from 16th to 20th
June. Evo Morales, Vandana Shiva, Serge Latouche, Carlo Petrini and
Wolfgang Sachs are among the delegates to have confirmed their
attendance. Over 750 papers have been sent in from all over the
world. Registration opens on 20th February.
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If names and
numbers are anything to go by, the Sixteenth IFOAM Organic World
Congress promises to be one of the most noteworthy and top level
organic sector conferences ever.
This June, Modena will play
host not just to the Indian Vandana Shiva and the Ethiopian scientist
Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, both winners of the Right Livelihood
Award but also to the Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales, former trade
union leader of the “cocaleros”. The food and wine connoisseur Carlo
Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement and recently featured in the
authoritative columns of The Guardian as “one of the 50 people who
could save the planet” will partake as well in this global event. Also
the agro ecologist Miguel Altieri, from the University of Berkeley
(California), the doctor and obstetrician Michel Odent, pioneer of
natural childbirth, and the American Frances Moore Lappé, author of the
book “Diet for a Small Planet” will show presence.
The
sociologist Wolfgang Sachs, Scientific Director of the Wuppertal
Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, has already confirmed
his attendance, as have the agronomist and geneticist Howard-Yana
Shapiro, who has been one of the major exponents of organic agriculture
for the past 35 years or more, the Director General of UNEP (United
Nations Environment Programme) Achim
Steiner, the anthropologist and economist Serge Latouche, one of the
greatest advocates of downscaling society and localism, and the
Indonesian obstetrician and environmentalist Ibu Robin Lim.
The
Conference is being organized by IFOAM and ModenaBio, a consortium
created by the Province of Modena and AIAB Emilia-Romagna, and is
expected to bring together about 2000 participants. It will run for
five days and will provide a platform on which the latest developments
in scientific research will be expounded and it will act as a catalyst
for the strategies and instruments needed to preserve diversity and to
disseminate ecologically and economically sustainable methods of
production. 757 papers have actually been submitted by as many
researchers and activists from all five continents; they will be
screened by a team of 100 scientists and experts who will then select
the most innovative and ground-breaking ones.
Two main threads
will drive the discussions: information (Systems
Values Track) regarding the presentation and exchange of practical
experiences, and science (Scientific Research Track), which will
illustrate the most outstanding on-going research projects. In over
100 sessions, scientists, producers, consumers and activists from all
over the world will debate themes ranging from nutritional safety to
the role of women in organic agriculture, international cooperation in
renewable energy, market access and the importance of widespread health
education, from GM products to the right to food, the protection of
biodiversity to the very real contribution that Organic can make
towards mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. Wine
and viticulture, textiles, organic cosmetics, aquaculture and fruit
farming will be dealt with in specialized pre-conferences and modules.
Registrations
for the IFOAM Organic World Congress will be accepted from 20th
February onwards. Bookings can be made either online or by sending
in the completed application form downloadable from the following
Internet sites: www.ifoam.org.
For
any further information and program updates, details of those attending
and the cultural events that will be held as part of the IFOAM
Congress, please log on to www.ifoam.org or www.modenabio2008.org (latter in Italian language). |
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