biodiversity

EU ministers call for better ways to measure progress and a green economy to promote health

World leaders, activists, and opinion-makers gathered in Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 (20-22 June 2012). Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for the Environment was part of the delegation. Below you will find what the EU Council of Ministers called the EU delegation to develop and how health fit into the Rio+20 negotiation process and actions to include NCDs in the post-2105 development framework. Commissioner Potnick called for new (...)

European Commission new Innovation Partnership on Water still treats water as a commodity

Despite its initial ambition to seek solutions in market-driven innovation and research in accessing to safe, clean and affordable water and sanitation, the European Commission proposal (released last 14 May 2012) on the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water only strengthens a vision of water as a commodity and not as a public good. EPHA evaluates the proposal Against the background of its support to the European Citizens’ Initiative Right to Water. Read the Commission (...)

Priorities of the Danish Presidency in the area of Agriculture and Food

With the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union taking over as of January 2012, the Danish Minister of Agriculture spoke to both the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the EC DG Agriculture at their meetings on 23-25 January 2012. This article presents the most important issues to be dealt in the field of agriculture and food in the next 6 months. Work Programme of the Danish Presidency - Agriculture and Fisheries Unveiling the Danish (...)

The European Parliament backs ’strong’ CAP towards 2020 to meet new challenges : food, natural resources and territorial balance of the future

Voted in plenary on 25 June 2011, non-legislative report by German MEP Albert Dess reaffirms agricultural contribution to the objectives of Europe 2020 strategy and the new political challenges such as health along the environment, biodiversity, climate change and security of supply of food. Provisory text of the final report "CAP towards 2020" adopted in plenary can be found here: texts part 3, page 22. Final report will be included upon its formal release by the European Parliament. The (...)

The role of Public Health in the Common Agricultural Policy - EPHAC policy debate in the European Parliament, 16 June 2011

On June 16th 2011, European Public Health and Agriculture Consortium (EPHAC) with a suport from the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) organise a European Parliament policy debate on The role of public health in the Common Agricultural Policy. Programme and Registration below. This event, hosted by Oana Elena Antonescu MEP, with participation of EU Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos, EU Commissioner for Health John Dalli, and WHO Regional Director for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab, (...)

Agricultural Committee in the European Parliament pushes for fairer and sustainable CAP

The Agriculture and Rural Development Committee of the European Parliament agreed on the basic principles guiding the reform of the EU’s future agricultural policy after 2013. The report pushes for fairer and more ecological agricultural policy, health is included in the prelude to the report, and the unfavourable alcohol-related suggestions were rejected by the Parliamentarians. The report drafted by Albert Dess MEP (EPP, Germany) was hotly debated within all political groups (...)

Food For Everyone: Towards a Global Deal

On the 23rd of May the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted a conference on global food security under the title “Food for Everyone: Towards a Global Deal”. The purpose of the event was to explore and understand the issue of food security and propose solutions supporting the achievement of the MGDs. With close to one billion people worldwide suffering from hunger1, and a much higher number from malnutrition, food security is again placed high on the political (...)

The missing option for the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013.

In November 2010, the European Commission presented its communication outlining objectives and scenarios for the EU Common Agricultural Policy after 2013. The Commission clearly opts for a more balanced and sustainable CAP aligned with the Europe 2020 strategy. Civil society working on the CAP proposed a fourth - healthier, stable and fairer - option put forward at the hearing organised at the European Parliament on 3 May, 2011. The European Commission communication outlines three options (...)

European Commission report on socio-economic aspects of GMO cultivation in Europe

The European Commission report on the socio-economic implicatoin of GMO cultivation reveals that the existing information is often statistically limited. Background In December 2008, the Environmental Council of Ministers requested the European Commission to collect and exchange relevant information on socio-economic implications of cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) along the food chain in the European Union. Key findings The experience with GMO cultivation in Europe (...)

MEPs want EU countries to be able to ban GMOs on environmental grounds

After MEPs from the Environment Committee, at the plenary sitting in Strasbourg (5 July 2011) all MEPs agree to give Member States a choice of whether to ban or restrict GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) crops on their territory, adding environmental impacts to a European Commission’s list of grounds on which restrictions could be introduced. The European Commission issued in July 2010 a proposal for a regulation to revise the the current framework regarding the cultivation of (...)