World Food Day
World Food Day was proclaimed in 1979 by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It marks the date of the founding of FAO in 1945. The aim of the Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. In 1980, the General Assembly endorsed observance of the Day in consideration of the fact that \"food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fundamental human necessity\" (resolution 35/70 of 5 December 1980). The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October 2008. This new international day, established by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007, recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.” Small food producers are composed of farmers, agricultural workers, fisherfolks, pastoralists, indigenous peoples and women, men and young people (CSM Lobbying Document on developing guidelines/framework/code on responsible agricultural investment). Food Sovereignty is the inalienable RIGHT of peoples, communities, and countries to define, decide and implement their own agricultural, labour, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. Rights of small producers; indigenous peoples for self-determination; gender justice in food and agriculture; and rights of agricultural workers are part of this struggle and are directly linked to the right to life and livelihoods. Widget by Way2Blogging

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Thursday, October 18, 2012

DWC Accused Of Double Standards

NEWS ON IRUDENIYAYA ISSUE.....
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has been accused of adopting a double standard over encroachers at the Kahalla-Pallakelle sanctuary. Kahalla-Pallakelle was declared as a sanctuary through gazette notification No. 566/ 5 on July 1, 1989 and is 21,690 hectares in extent spanning through Kurunegala and Anuradhapura districts. According to Section 7 of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (amended) No. 22 of 2009, it is an offence to destroy wildlife habitats and breeding grounds, destroy trees or to carry out any road or other permanent or temporary construction within a sanctuary. Apart from the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO) rules and regulations, the gazette notification No. 859/14 of February 23, 1995 in accordance with the National Environmental Ordinance it is also an offence to carry out any development work within a sanctuary or 100 meters radius from the sanctuary boundary without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study. Although the law is such, it is clearly evident as to how the DWC officials enforce the law and order on encroachers in two different ways in the two districts. In order to protect the FFPO guidelines, the officers of the DWC have sent an ultimatum to the sanctuary encroachers in Irudeniyaya, Kurunegala to move out of the sanctuary in which they were living for the past 40 years. However interestingly, the same wildlife officials have openly allowed ruling party supporters to build houses within the same sanctuary but in a different place – Kalawewa in Anuradhapura district.
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