FAO International Technical Conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries.1 – 4 March 2010, Guadalajara, Mexico
Dear Mr. Sonnino,
Thank you for your e-mail of Friday, February 19 regarding the ABDC steering committee and preparations for the Guadalajara conference. We share a desire for the conference to be constructive, technically accurate, and transparent and we both seem to have some surprises.
On September 19, I wrote to the Secretariat with my comments on the crop paper stating, in my opening paragraph, that computer problems at the beginning of September prevented me from reading the draft until mid-September. In my message, I - for the first time - offered to also review the other texts which I had been sent.. It should have been obvious, therefore, that computer problems had prevented me from seeing Mr. Lidder's September 3 invitation for general comment. My office had sent me all of the drafts, combined into one document, to facilitate my overview of the conference's tenor and texts. But it also doesn't seem that anybody took note of my September 19 e-mail.
While I did not expect that all 14 of my suggestions would be adopted, I had expected that some would - and I had assumed that my explicit statement that the draft's orientation was biased - and that it should not go forward with this bias - would elicit some response. There was no acknowledgment of my fundamental concern.
You quite correctly point out that it was not possible for the Secretariat to manage all of the comments coming from the 75 member steering committee. Perhaps the steering committee should not have had 75 members. A situation was created in which it was impossible for the committee to be taken seriously or for fundamental issues to be addressed. This is a failure of the Secretariat.
You mention that one of my 14 concerns (related to some data on the costs of biotech crops presented by Major Goodman) was addressed. I have reviewed the portion of the text you have identified and I cannot remotely consider the treatment given to be appropriate.
Regarding the meeting held by the Secretariat with CSOs in Mexico City, I've gone back to my colleagues there for additional information and they insist that they were told repeatedly that their interests were being covered by my presence on the steering committee and in the conference. Intentional or otherwise, this is the information they received.
I want to remind you that Hope Shand of ETC group did attend the first meeting of the steering committee and based upon that meeting concluded that the process was too biased to be constructive and, therefore, resigned. It was only when the Secretariat came back to me, some months later, and asked me to reconsider with the assurance that my views would be taken into account that I reluctantly agreed. Now I find that none of the points I've raised have been accepted; that my communications haven't been understood; and that my participation (as presented to my colleagues) has been distorted. This is no way for the Secretariat to manage the steering committee or the conference. I have no choice but to resign from the steering committee. Please make sure that my name is removed from any listing of the steering committee in conference reports - or, that documents note that I have withdrawn from the steering committee in protest.
I will, of course, honour my commitment to attend the conference and to participate on the crops panel. Again, to be clear, my participation willnot cost FAO any expense.
It is deeply unfortunate, especially following the problems around the biotech SOFA a few years ago, that the Secretariat hasn't learned from the experience and doesn't seem to be capable of managing a truly balanced dialogue on what is clearly a controversial issue.
I have reviewed all of the texts for the meeting and find them significantly more biased than in their draft format. It is very clear that the private sector biotechnology industry is exercising undue influence over the documents and the conference. As a strong supporter of multilateralism and the UN system, I have followed FAO and its work for more than 40 years, I deeply regret this unacceptable bias in favour of private interests.
Yours sincerely,
Pat Mooney,
Executive Director
ETC Group