Organizers of the World Hemp Quarter Dec. 5-6 in Paris say the event will not be canceled amid fears that French authorities could limit the The World Village of Alternatives (Village Mondial des Alternatives – VMA), where WHQ is to be situated.
WHQ is organized by Initiative Chanvre (The Hemp Initiative), an international effort to develop and promote low-cost business models and tools for entry into the industrial hemp business. The VMA is under the activist group Alternatiba.
France has reintroduced border checks as part of its security-tightening measures ahead of the Cop21 Paris climate conference which opens Nov. 30. French security sources are paying particular attention to “militant ecologist protesters,” as well as certain extreme-left militant groups, Agence France Presse has reported.
VMA and WHQ make up an independent effort that will run during COP21, which closes Dec. 11.
“Some contacts are giving up because the government is inducing fear,” said Pierre Amadieu one of Initiative Chanvre’s founders. “So, unfortunately the WHQ is getting smaller but our plan is to be there. We’re continuing with our canvassing to hemp activists worldwide in order to turn them into IC ambassadors. So we’re still focused on our plan to start up thousands of local hemp initiatives and spearhead transition to a low-carbon economy,” he said.
Amadieu said updates on the situation regarding WHQ will be posted on the Intiative Chanvre website and any urgent messages will go out through the organization’s email data bases.
Meanwhile, organizers of a Sustainable Innovation Forum also say they will go ahead with their event as planned on Dec 7-8 in Paris. That event is organized by Climate Action, a contractor to the UN’s environmental program.
