The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has called on the Federal Government to review its commitments to international treaties and covenants that undermine biosafety, pointing at the Agricultural Innovation Mission 4Climate Change (AIM4C) which was launched at COP26 as one of such anti-environmental innovations.

HOMEF described AIM4C, which is being promoted by the United States of America (USA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), and many other nations, philanthropies and data companies, as emerging technologies that are not about tractors or irrigation systems, but “about big data that would monitor soils for nutrients, water and other parameters and would promote the use of technologies that could eventually create farming without farmers”.

A statement by HOMEF’s Media and Communications Lead, Kome Odhomor, disclosed that this alarm was raised by HOMEF’s Director, Nnimmo Bassey, alongside other speakers at her final School of Ecology (SoE), which held virtually on Thursday, December 2, 2021.

In his presentation titled “Economic and Environmental Implications of Emerging Agricultural Technologies”, Bassey stressed that “preservation of our biodiversity is critical for the productivity of small-scale farmers who are the ones actually feeding the world,” warning that “monocultures and colonial agricultural patterns promote species loss, soil degradation and dependence on chemical pesticides and herbicides”.

He described Geo-Engineering as “a false solution to climate change,” pointing out that though “they lock in fossil fuels dependency” they do not address the root causes of global warming”, adding that “technologies are being promoted in a bid to present industrial agriculture as a climate solution rather than as the problem that it is”.

On her part, Joyce Brown, who spoke on “Understanding Genetically Modified Organisms, Gene Drives and the Threat to Biosafety and Biodiversity”, alerted that “We must be careful how we interact with nature because we will bear the consequences. We must ensure and be sure of the kind of technology we want before adopting them. Let’s be careful how we use science before it becomes a big issue for us.”

“Strengthening issues that threaten our policies should not be encouraged by our government. We need to invest more on research and close the knowledge gaps that exist in the public, government and scientific circles.”

Adding his voice to the clamour for responsible engagement of the environment, a former Secretary General Scientific of the Technical and Research commission of Organization of Africa Union (OAU/STRC), Professor Johnson Ekpere, speaking on “Gaps and Opportunities in Biosafety Laws in the light of the African Model Law”, noted that African nations had seen the need to provide a broad legal framework within which nations would determine how best to frame their biosafety laws.

He noted that this template has been largely eroded and “we have completely destroyed the traditional breeding system because of the entrance of GMOs”, emphasizing that “there is really no difference in productivity between GMOs and traditional bred crops,” adding that “the agency that is in charge of biosafety in Nigeria should be consistent with its work, and all decisions should be backed by local research rather than on results from other countries”.

An Associate Professor in the Department of Veterinary Medicine University of Abuja, Dr Ifeanyi Casmir, who addressed “The Nigerian Reality in the Context of Biosafety, Biosecurity and Food Systems”, noted that Biosafety as a term speaks to actions and policies in place to protect nations from harmful practices.

He expressed concern over the lack of synergy between the biosafety regulators and other agencies such as NAFDAC and the Federal Ministry of Health, which regulate food systems, asserting that because of this “Biosafety and food systems have become a concern with regard to public health in Nigeria. What causes the concern and debate is the lack of appropriate coordination, people are now wary of what they eat”.

The virtual conference aimed at decolonizing the narratives around food systems and the state of biosafety in Nigeria and Africa at large, thus the various sessions x-rayed the different challenges surrounding Biosafety and ways through which our food systems can be protected and preserved from harmful technologies and chemicals.