27 February 2026

The Just Transition in the Food System Group submission to the South African Human Rights Commission’s National Inquiry into the Right to Food.

The 86-page submission draws on inputs from organisations across our networks and broader constituencies, setting out concrete proposals to address the food crisis and advance the constitutional right to food.

The submission addresses:

• Child hunger and malnutrition
• Land access and tenure security
• Corporate concentration in the food chain
• Climate change and food system resilience
• Gendered dimensions of food insecurity
• The need for a Right-to-Food Framework Act

19 February 2026

Biowatch South Africa’s submission in response to a call from the UN Working Group on UNDROP to inform their thematic report on the right to seeds, which will be presented to the HRC in October 2026. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2026/right-seeds

26 September 2025

Biowatch South Africa submission in relation to the draft package of measures developed by the Open-Ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System (MLS) under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) - the Plant Treaty.

16 October 2024

Biowatch South Africa submission on the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP)

25 July 2024

Biowatch South Africa comments on the Draft National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Bill, 2024

16 May 2024

Biowatch South Africa comments on the guidance concerning smallholder farmers in relation to the definition of private and non-commercial purposes in the UPOV 1991 Convention

19 February 2024

Biowatch South Africa comments on the Concept Note on Food Systems Transformation and the National Food System Coordinating Committee (NFSCC)

1 December 2023

Additional comments on the Draft Regulations made in terms of the Plant Improvement Act, 2018 and the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2018

19 May 2023

Biowatch South Africa comments on the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill [B8–2021].

9 September 2022

Biowatch South Africa comments on the Draft White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in South Africa.