and          Nordland

 

Press release 3 October 2006:

For a stronger Nordic farmers and smallholders coordination

We members of Nordic farmers and smallholders organizations have been gathered at a seminar at Birka folk high-school in Jämtland, Sweden, 29 September to 1 October.
 
One of the main topics was what in Norwegian is called verdiskaping in agriculture. Verdiskaping is the small scale practice in which the producer puts more labor into the local natural resources in order to create quality products with a higher value, and doing it in a way that preserve and develop traditions, knowledge and handicraft culture. This will lead to more jobs in the villages, and a more ecologically sustainable society.
 
The participants also wanted more public focus on forestry policy. The new forestry action plan of the EU is just used as another excuse to expand EU:s sovereignty over questions concerning forestry in the Nordic countries and elsewhere. We go against this development, and recommend that the control over forestry resources stays local and national. Local forestry sovereignty is much more qualified to balance environmental and social considerations with economical than a globalized commonmarket.
 
We all agreed that it is very urgent to continue the building and strengthening of the Nordic coordination that has been initiated here at Birka folk high-school. A stronger Nordic coordination is also a condition to rise local political awareness, to guide the public opinion, and to spread knowledge about the situation of the small farmers, agricultural labors, and indigenous people on this planet through the European Farmers Coordination (CPE) and the international farmers movement La Via Campesina.  
 
Contact: Torgny Östling telephone:  +0046 070 302 33 36 & email: torgny@nordbruk.org