INCREASE – Intelligent Collections of Food Legumes Genetic Resources for European Agrofood Systems

Message for Peace

We, the members of the European research project INCREASE, a project that wants to ensure a sustainable agriculture for the growing world population in the face of climate change, are shocked by the outbreak of a war on European soil. We, as researchers and citizens from all over Europe and from many countries worldwide, strongly condemn the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. This war will bring nothing but death and sadness to the people of both nations, a war unwanted by the civilians of both countries. People want to live in peace and solve the global challenges for human survival together, not fighting against each other. We are close to all people suffering in Ukraine as to all refugees from this and other wars that we must always help and host wherever they come from. We are also grateful to all the people that are protesting with great courage in Russia. Peace is the only way and we hope for an immediate ceasefire by reopening a diplomatic channel. We invite all citizens of the world to join the request for the withdrawal of the Russian armed forces from Ukraine and for peace.

In our Citizen Science Experiment all across Europe, we enjoy working together with citizens from all the different nations. It is an extremely enriching experience and the goal that we have can only be achieved by the common effort of everyone involved, no matter where they come from. If we could have sent seeds to Ukraine and Russia, we would have done so happily. We hope for an immediate ceasefire by reopening a diplomatic channel to solve this crisis with brainpower and not with gunpower. Let’s all plant beans for peace this year and show the world that working together is by far more fruitful than fighting each other.

Roberto Papa - INCREASE Coordinator
Kerstin Neumann - INCREASE CSE Coordinator

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