About the Fighting Fund
Garden Organic’s Fighting Fund was set up to tackle issues that threaten our nation’s biodiversity.
Since 1958, Garden Organic has worked to protect the rich, interdependent, diverse life that makes up our gardens. We set up practical projects that make a difference, we educate and inspire growers, we conserve endangered varieties and we lobby for change. And we will continue to do so.
But we need to be able to act fast on important issues that threaten our biodiversity, our gardens and our environment.
That’s why we set up the Fighting Fund, in early 2012, supported by our members. The Fighting Fund gives us the flexibility to act fast on important issues.
Right now, through our Fighting Fund, we are campaigning on a number of fronts.
Garden Organic's Bee Heard Campaign
The Bee Heard campaign, since its launch last year, has seen a continuing drive towards lobbying MPs and the Government to take action to protect UK bee populations.
Joining forces with Friends of the Earth and other environmental organisations we are calling call for the Prime Minister to implement a National Bee Action Plan.
We also campaigned for a ban on neonicitinoid pesticides, linked to having an adverse effect on bee numbers. This was granted in May this year with the EU announcing a two year ban on three types of neonicitinoid, with the ban coming into effect in December this year.
But the fight for the bees goes on. To find out more and about what you can do to help click here.
Weed Out Clopyralid
Garden Organic’s Weed out Clopyralid campaign is calling for initial restrictions on sale and eventually a ban on Clopyralid – a chemical found in weedkillers linked to vegetable damage through contaminated compost.
The campaign has already begun to generate interest, and has been featured across national media. It was first revealed in an Oliver Moody article in The Times and followed up by BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme, with Garden Organic’s Bret Willers directly confronting the makers of one of the pesticides containing Clopyralid about the reported damage to crops.
The next step is to ask people to forward their Clopyralid plant damage incidents to Garden Organic to build up evidence based case studies of the threat posed by Clopyralids. To see how you can get involved and discover more about Weed Out Clopyralid
Save Our Seeds
In April this year a draconian new EU proposal sought to replace numerous directives, which would have seen gardeners and farmers prevented from exchanging seeds and growing heritage varieties.
This led to fears that seed exchange networks such as Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library and the swapping of seeds between private individuals would be subject to costly annual licensing fees. Faced with this threat to our seeds, Garden Organic joined with other concerned European NGOs to campaign across the media.
As Garden Organic appeared on UK media such as BBC Farming Today and BBC Wales, the chorus of disapproval grew louder. EU commissioners heeded the call and made last minute changes to the original draft proposals.
However the battle is far from won as many parts of the Plant Reproductive Material Law are still quite restrictive and could still stop people getting hold of seeds.
Numerous clauses mean the key concessions agreed could be removed in the future without coming back to the Parliament for a vote.
For the latest news and action being taken by Garden Organic see our news section
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/news/latest.php
Food For Thought – National Curriculum
Garden Organic has long been engaged in a campaign for every schoolchild to have a chance to grow their own food.
This looks set to succeed -with “horticulture” being introduced as a key activity for design and technology in the draft version of the National Curriculum.
Watch for breaking news!
The final version of the National Curriculum is due to be published in August 2013 and taught in schools from September 2014. Find out the latest on this issue by clicking on http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/news/latest.php
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Garden Organic is the working name of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA).
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