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The world’s most popular weed killer, Roundup®, can cause amphibians to change shape, according to research published today in Ecological Applications. Rick Relyea, University of Pittsburgh professor of biological sciences in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and director of Pitt’s Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, demonstrated that sublethal and environmentally relevant concentrations of Roundup® caused two species of amphibians to alter their morphology. According to Relyea, this is the first study to show that a pesticide can induce morphological changes in a vertebrate animal.

“This report demonstrates that the increasingly vocal objections from social movements and civil society organisations are having an impact on the introduction of GM crops.” said Josie Riffaud from La Via Campesina. The testimonies and analysis contained in this report aim to inspire and unite consumers, activists and communities against the abuses carried out by Monsanto and other biotech corporations around the world. “Who will hold Monsanto responsible for the global depletion of biodiversity, soil erosion, and violations of peasant rights wrought by the application of petroleum-based inputs required by industrial agriculture?” asked Dena Hoff of the National Family Farm Coalition / La Via Campesina North America.

We the undersigned representing civil society groups are concerned about recent statements that emanated from the first Pan African Biotechnology Stewardship Conference held in Accra, Ghana on the 1st of December 2011, which called on Africans to use biotechnology to provide ”poor farmers with healthier, more bountiful crops to reduce hunger and poverty in Africa”. [...] We are disappointed that an unproven and unsafe technology is being foisted on Africa simply because of the unfortunate continual characterization of Africa as a chronically hungry continent. [...] Our agricultural systems are threatened by industries that seek to control our food and our livelihoods by destroying our agricultural systems.

France will reinstate a ban on the cultivation of Monsanto’s MON810 maize in the next few days, in time to prevent the genetically modified grain being sown this year, an official at the farm ministry said on Tuesday. Paris banned MON810 maize in 2008, citing environmental risks. The decision was overturned by the country’s highest court in November on the basis that it was not sufficiently justified, leading the government to say it would look at all ways to maintain the freeze.

Genetic engineering is a technology in search of a problem; a product in search of a market. This should be foremost in the minds of civil society leaders, farmers and politicians attending the ”Innovation and partnerships to realise Africa’s rice potential” conference in Mali this week. Lobbyists from the genetic engineering (GE) industry are offering Africa a stark choice between hunger and GE crops. This is a false choice. Hunger can be avoided without growing and eating GE crops.

Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth’s ecosystems. Left unaddressed, we risk global disaster. But if we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only prevent catastrophe, but may usher in an era of sustainability—one that allows all people to thrive while protecting, even restoring, Earth.In State of the World 2010, sixty renowned researchers and practitioners describe how we can harness the world’s leading institutions—education, the media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements—to reorient cultures toward sustainability.

On the day of the release of annual industry-sponsored figures, a new report from Friends of the Earth International reveals that claims made by the biotech industry that genetically modified crops can combat climate change are both exaggerated and premature. The report, ’Who Benefits from GM Crops’, examines the evidence for these claims, and exposes that GM crops could actually increase carbon emissions while failing to feed the world.

Commentary by Dr. Claire Schaffnit-Chatterjee. Ironically, most of the world’s hungry earn their living from agriculture. More than three-quarters of poor people live in rural areas, which means that most of the food insecure live in areas where food is produced. And about two billion of the world’s three billion rural inhabitants live off the income generated from farming less than two hectares. Not only victims of hunger, small farmers are also part of the solution, due to their sheer number and due to their potential for boosting yields. In turn, the success of the global agribusiness sector depends on the success of small farmers. The rising awareness of this link is prompting a number of global food processors and retailers to take a keen interest in the commercial viability of small farms in the developing world.

One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the biofuel revolution launched by former President George Bush in 2007 is impacting on world food supplies. The 2009 figures from the US Department of Agriculture shows ethanol production rising to record levels driven by farm subsidies and laws which require vehicles to use increasing amounts of biofuels. "The grain grown to produce fuel in the US [in 2009] was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels," said Lester Brown, the director of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington thinktank that conducted the analysis.

A conference of 193 countries agreed on Saturday to "take note" of a new Copenhagen Accord to fight global climate change, after two weeks of U.N. talks in the Danish capital.

The accord was not legally binding, and did not commit countries ever to agree a binding successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose present round ends in 2012.In addition, countries were invited to sign up to the accord, meaning it did not guarantee global participation.

Following is a summary of the decisions in the Copenhagen Accord, and other decisions adopted at the U.N. summit.