The Environmental Monitoring Group is an independent NGO based in Cape Town. Formed in 1992, the organisation has programmes in Rural Livelihoods, Trade and Water Justice. The organisation serves as the NGO Focal Point for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and for the past 3 years has been supporting the efforts of a community of small-scale rooibos tea producers in the Northern Cape to enhance their food security and improve their quality of life. The perspectives and interests of these rural people inform our submission. The current pressure of the tea harvest has prevented them from attending the hearings.

Article 27.1.b of the South African Constitution defends the right of our people to freedom from hunger and access to adequate food. With our country firmly part of the international market economy, the enjoyment of these rights is increasingly closely tied to international trade and access to markets throughout the globe.

The Heiveld Co-operative is an organisation of small-scale rooibos tea farmers, situated in the Nieuwoudtville area of the Northern Cape Province. The area in which they live is drought prone, has infertile, acidic soils and was long regarded as very marginal. This probably contributed to their surviving the apartheid years as a community. The members of the Co-op were disadvantaged under apartheid legislation, and suffered economically as a result. For example, no agricultural support services (extension, finance, etc) were provided by the apartheid regime. Controlled marketing in the rooibos industry excluded or limited market access for members.

In the apartheid years the community was extremely vulnerable to poor market access and low prices. This did not change with democratisation. Some members received as little as R2.00/ kg for their tea in 1997. The primary livelihood strategies were thus subsistence production of small stock, grain and vegetables. Rooibos tea production was an important cash supplement. Most producers also worked as farm labourers for part of the year.

In response to the problems of poverty and food insecurity, the Heiveld Co-operative was formed in 2001, and all of its members registered as organic producers. Since then, partnerships with "fair traders" in the EU ensure a sound price for the Co-op’s tea. This year members are earning R16.50/kg for their tea. Exports to Europe have climbed from 4 tons in 2001 to 30 tons this year.

Members of the Co-operative and others in the community are enjoying the benefits of good prices and fair wages. Profits are shared using a formula that gives additional benefit to the less food secure. This economic success is based on marketing a natural product, which is organically produced in its natural environment.

European consumers buy rooibos tea because it is a health-giving drink. The well being of small-scale farmers, and of the entire South African rooibos tea industry depends upon the reputation of rooibos as a healthy natural product.

Rooibos tea is a fine example of the gift to the world from our heritage of biodiversity

The rooibos plant (Aspalathus linearis) fits a vital ecological niche, and grows only in the Cederberg Mountains and surrounding areas. The rooibos industry depends on genetic material from the wild to maintain health and resistance to pests and diseases. The rooibos occurs over a wide range, and displays great genetic variation in the species. Some varieties of rooibos are not cultivated, but are harvested in the wild. Many of the poorer members of communities in the rooibos producing areas depend upon the harvesting of these wild sub-species.

Genetic modification of rooibos would damage the reputation of rooibos as a health product. International experiences such as that of Mexico indicate that genetically modified plants will almost certainly pollute the gene pool of rooibos. The danger to the industry as a whole, and especially to its most vulnerable members, is that once genetic pollution has occurred, it will be impossible to reverse. The strides made by small-scale rooibos tea producers towards achieving greater food security could be entirely wiped out if genetic pollution takes place in the rooibos industry.

GMOs have been introduced in agriculture as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional pest and disease control. The arguments in favour of this are highly debatable. Biodiversity Bill contains no reference to the protection of indigenous products such as rooibos tea from genetic pollution via Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). GMOs are currently regulated under the GMO Act, which focuses on agricultural production, and is not concerned with biodiversity. The Act does not adequately protect natural biodiversity from pollution by modified organisms. As Aspalathus linearis occurs only in South Africa, pollution of this source would be a catastrophe of global proportions. Wild stands of rooibos, which have greater resistance to drought and therefore climate change, would also be threatened

In conclusion, EMG believes that genetic pollution of Aspalathus linearis will be catastrophic for the food security of small-scale farmers. The food security of small-scale collectors of other natural products such as honeybush tea or devils claw is also at risk. Short-term gain by a few could endanger the livelihoods and food security of thousands. Legislation should ensure that potential risks to the natural environment should be assessed before any genetic modification of organisms takes place. No GMO should be released into the environment before a full Environmental Impact Assessment has been carried out. We urge our legislators to ensure food security and biodiversity by keeping the GMOs out of natural products.