UNDROP AND THE EU SEED MARKETING REFORM: PERSPECTIVES FROM BELGIUM

Event

EU flag before the European Commission Building

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This webinar – held in English and French – aims to raise awareness of the upcoming reform of the European Union (EU) seed marketing legislation and to explore pathways to align it with the right to seeds recognized by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).

UNDROP’s holistic approach to the right to seeds entails legislative changes at the EU and national levels in various policy fields. This webinar will focus on the impacts of rules that govern the marketing of seeds in the EU. These rules are currently undergoing a reform process, with an EU Commission proposal expected in June 2023. It will also look into what UNDROP and the EU reform mean in the Belgian context, and how positive aspects of the national legislation could input the reform or, alternatively, suffer from new and more restrictive rules at the EU level.

PROGRAMME

15:30–15:35: Welcome

15:35–15:45: UNDROP and the right to seeds: what obligations for the EU & its Member States?

Karine Peschard, Geneva Academy

15:45–16:00: UNDROP and the right to seeds: which links with EU seed marketing rules?

Fulya Batur, Geneva Academy and Kybele

16:00–16:45: Reactions and perspectives from Belgian stakeholders

Frank Adams, Master market gardener, artisan seed grower, education coordinator – SEED Luxembourg, Réseau Meuse Rhin Moselle (RMRM), Lycée Technique Agricole du Luxembourg
‘What role for local seeds in tomorrow’s food systems?’
Loes Mertens, Project manager for the seed, seedlings and potato sectors, Biowallonie ‘A perspective from the Belgian organic seed industry’
Vincent Delobel, Goat farmer, board member of Fédération unie de groupements d’éleveurs et d’agriculteurs-FUGEA (ECVC), Terres Vivantes and Ceinture alimentaire de Tournai. ‘The role of seeds in nurturing resourcefulness in action’

16:45– 17:00: Q&A

Background Information

For more background information on the relevant UNDROP provisions and their implementation, see the Practical Manual on the Right to Seeds in Europe and the shorter Research Brief published by the Geneva Academy.

Video

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