Preparations are underway for two particularly exciting events that relate directly to the 4 per 1000 Iniziative.
We start in Africa, where the first symposium on the Initiative will be held in Johannesburg from 24 to 26 October 2018. The event will have a unique character because it is organized jointly with NEPAD. For those who haven’t heard of it, NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) is a pan-African organization for socio-economic development, created to tackle the challenges faced by the continent, such as poverty and the exclusion of Africa from the global economy. Created in 2001, since 2010 NEPAD has been an Agency of the African Union with a remit to coordinate and enhance development programmes and projects for the whole continent of Africa.
NEPAD’s direct involvement in the 4per1000 Initiative is a concrete sign of the will to integrate carbon capture techniques and the maintenance of the soil’s natural fertility into African agriculture.
The second event is a day organized by the Initiative on 13 December 2018 at Katowice in Poland concurrently with COP 24, the climate change conference (which runs from 3 to 14 December). It is too early to know what the agenda will be or who will take part, but it will be a day for comparing notes and study, followed by the Initiative’s AGM.
It is worth noting that agroecology, which lies at the heart of the 4per1000 Initiative, is gaining ever-increasing importance. People are coming to undestand the need to produce food using natural methods that respect the soil and the ecosystems that contain it. National and international institutions are slowly realizing that we have overshot the limits of the planet’s resilience. Governments must now listen to their citizens and institutions and enact the political choices that are needed. Ogigia Wood, which we showcased at the start of this Newsletter, is not “just a small example”, but a further indication of the road we must follow.
Gruppo Suolo Europa 