Twenty-five years ago the idea that would become the Rural Advancement Foundation International (and then, in 2001, ETC Group) began with a conversation about seeds. A quarter of a century later, ETC Group is still talking about seeds, but the world has grown more complex: new technologies have developed; economies have globalised; multinational companies have expanded their reach; and wealth and capital are concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer giant corporations. Life itself has been manipulated, picked apart, reassembled – and then patented.

ETC Group is an international civil society organisation. We address the global socio-economic and ecological issues surrounding new technologies with special concern for their impact on indigenous peoples, rural communities and biodiversity. We investigate ecological erosion (including the erosion of cultures and human rights); the development of new technologies (especially agricultural but also new technologies that work with genomics and matter); and we monitor global governance issues including corporate concentration and trade in technologies. We operate at the global political level. We work closely with other civil society organisations and social movements, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

We are 10 staff members and nine Board members scattered over five continents. We have offices in Ottawa and Montreal, Canada; Durham, USA; Mexico City, Mexico; and Davao City, Philippines.

ETC Group has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Biodiversity Convention (CBD), and also has a long history with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

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http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/499/ETCLogo_s.jpg* The ETC Group’s website is http://www.etcgroup.org/en.
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