No to Pesticide Use

Abstract

An editorial synthesis based on a RAP-AL bulletin, this piece commemorates December 3rd as World No Pesticide Use Day, established in memory of the victims of the toxic gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, in 1984. The text presents RAP-AL's position in support of Food Sovereignty, within the framework of the South American Food Sovereignty Forum and ahead of the First World Forum on Food Sovereignty (Nyéléni) to be held in Mali in 2007, arguing that this concept includes respect for human rights and the environment. The text presents ecological and ancestral agriculture as a viable alternative for ensuring peoples' food sovereignty.