Most people are aware of the large role Microsoft CEO and billionaire Bill Gates plays in health and vaccine programs. Less however may be aware that Gates plays a similarly outsized role in world food policy.
“The Gates Foundation seeks to exercise influence not only through its funding of projects and shaping of expertise, but also in funding the governance platforms that determine food and agricultural policy,” reads an AGRA Watch report published this month.
The role AGRA Watch alludes to is illustrated notably in the story of Agnes Kalibata, the president Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an organization funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In December 2019, Kalibata was appointed special envoy to the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit by the secretary general of the UN, Antonio Guterres.
In response, 176 civil society organizations and farmer groups from 83 countries objected to the appointment. There was also a second statement signed by more than 500 academics and organizations, also opposed Kalibata’s appointment.
They urged Guterres to rescind the appointment due to Kalibata’s conflicts of interest with worldwide corporations.
12 parties came to her defense. However, of those 12 defenders, “11 had past or current connections to the Gates Foundation.”
The AGRA Watch report reads:
These findings illustrate the influence of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on global food and agricultural policy. AGRA Watch has continually documented the role of the BMGF in influencing agricultural development, which has grown immensely in recent years,” AGRA Watch writes.
“The Gates Foundation seeks to exercise influence not only through its funding of projects and shaping of expertise, but also in funding the governance platforms that determine food and agricultural policy. This role of the BMGF in driving policy decisions based on its proprietary and technological model of agricultural development is often overlooked …
In this report, we have demonstrated just some of the connections between the Gates Foundation and those who have supported Kalibata’s appointment as head of the UN Food Systems Summit.
While hundreds of civil society organizations called for her removal, only twelve signatories were willing to support her appointment, almost all of whom were direct beneficiaries of the Gates Foundation. This raises critical questions about the role of Bill Gates in shaping the agenda of the UN Food Systems Summit as well as its outcomes.”
Critics point out that while Gates has donated tens of billions of dollars to international organizations, his net worth hasn’t dropped. In fact, it has doubled largely because of favorable tax treatment to deductible philanthropic investments.
Read more here.
Photo by The Global Development Outlook