World Future Council demands compensation of organic farmers

“Planet Earth is facing existential threats from human impact on the land, sea and air – on its ecological systems and its many forms of life, but there are effective policy measures that could Save the Planet and Protect the Future” say Members of the World Future Council and Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the ‘Alternate Noble Peace Prize’) in a joint message Save the Planet: Protect the Future / No Excuses for Inaction’ presented to the COP27 conference in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt.

The message calls for “urgent action to shift from dead-end, unsustainable, exploitative relationships with the environment and with each other, to relationships based on earth trusteeship/stewardship, rights of nature, human rights including rights of future generations, and common security.”

A promising proposal for upscaling sustainable agriculture practices, put forward by Right Livelihood Laureate Helmy Abouleish, is to establish ‘Economy of Love carbon credits’ sourced from verified organic agriculture projects. “Through this fair compensation, organic farmers can sell their goods at conventional market prices, allowing everyone to purchase healthy and organic food, to improve livelihood of farmers and to mitigate climate change,” says Mr Abouleish, Chief Executive Officer of the SEKEM sustainable farming and production company in Egypt and also a Member of the World Future Council.  

The joint message focuses strongly on the climate crisis, noting that a climate catastrophe can only be prevented if we move to cutting carbon emissions at their source – the mining of fossil fuels. “It’s time to move from regulating carbon emissions to ending the fossil fuel economy. We encourage countries to join the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance and to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Treaty in order to end all fossil fuel extraction and to support transition to fossil free economies.”