CGIAR news release, 17 December 2003

http://www.cgiar.org/publications/news_dfid_funding_2003.html

UN Press Release, 3 December 2003
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9051&Cr=biodiversity&Cr1

32nd Session of FAO Governing Conference

http://www.fao.org/unfao/bodies/conf/c2003/c2003-e.htm

Trade controls for big-leaf mahogany, one of the world's most valuable forest products, entered into force on 15 November 2003. The trade controls were adopted by the 12th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which has 164 Member States to date. Under the new regulations, exported mahogany requires a CITES export permit confirming that the timber was obtained legally and that it does not jeopardize the survival of the species.

CITES Press Release, 11 November 2003

http://www.cites.org/eng/news/press_release.shtml

ACAP's media release, 7 November 2003

http://www.wcmc.org.uk/cms/nwPR2003/nw071103_acap_5th_party.htm
 

LINK BETWEEN CORRUPTION AND POOR CONSERVATION

According to research undertaken by the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK, countries with high levels of corruption tend to have poor environmental conservation records. The report "Governance and the Loss of Biodiversity" compares country scores scores from the "corruption perception index" published by Transparency International with the rate of change in forest cover and, for African countries, in their elephant and rhino populations. South Africa and Botswana are examples of countries with relatively little corruption and healthier wildlife populations, with Sudan and Ethiopia are found at the other end of the spectrum. The link also has implications for the trade in animal products such as ivory and rhino horn. It further forecasts the current decline in Asian elephants based on the corruption scores of the relevant Asian countries.

UN Wire release, 7 November 2003

http://www.nature.com/nsu/031103/031103-12.html

Kent University Press Release, 6 November 2003

www.kent.ac.uk/news/news.php?id=dice.txt

Corruption is undermining conservation, Nature, 6 November 2003,
http://www.nature.com/nsu/031103/031103-12.html

The UK government has recently published the results of the farm-scale evaluations of three herbicide-tolerant GM crops – maize, beet and spring oilseed rape. The trials, which were carried out over a three-year period to test the impact on farmland wildlife of the herbicide use associated with these crops, show that conventional varieties of these crops are contaminated with GM traits at a much faster rate than previously expected.

Regarding wildlife, it shows that in GM beet fields there were 60% fewer weed seed, less butterflies and fewer birds, while in GM oilseed rape fields there were 80% fewer weed seeds and less butterflies. GM maize was the exception, since it drew more bees, butterflies and weed seeds than the conventional crop. The report concludes that cultivating such GM crops could lead to a decline in bird population. The results will be passed to the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, the Government's statutory advisory body, which will advise the government on implications for any release of GM crops. Margaret Beckett, the UK Environment Minister, said that the results will be considered as part of the comprehensive risk assessment undertaken for each GM crop.

Another report was recently published in Mexico, sponsored by a group of Mexican farmers and indigenous communities. Testing 2000 maize plants from 33 communities in nine Mexican states as positively contaminated with DNA from GM maize, the report indicated that Mexico's traditional maize crops are far more contaminated with DNA from GM varieties that previously thought.

DEFRA Press Release, 16 October 2003

http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2003/fseresults.htm

Royal Society Press Release, 16 October 2003, and full texts of the evaluations

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/homepage_homelink1.shtml

ETC Group Press Release, 9 October 2003, and Mexican maize report

http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=410

RATIFICATIONS RAMPING UP FOR TREATY ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES, ENTRY INTO FORCE EXPECTED IN 2004
The ratification process for the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is proceeding speedily, with 32 States having ratified as of 13 October. Adopted on 3 November 2001, the treaty is slated enter into force 90 days following ratification by 40 States. National procedures necessary for ratification are also progressing rapidly in several countries. It is expected that 40 States will have ratified the treaty by the end of 2003, and that it will enter into force in the first half of 2004.

Links to further information

ITPGR ratification website

http://www.fao.org/Legal/TREATIES/033s-e.htm

On 21 October, following a decade of court battles in the US over jurisdiction, 30,000 residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon will bring their case against ChevronTexaco before the local court of Lago Agrio in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Ecuadorians claim that the company's oil operations in the region from 1971 to 1991 dumped billions of gallons of toxic materials into pits and rivers, which resulted in environmental damages, damaged crops, dead animals and increased cancer rates, and are demanding that the company pay for a clean-up, estimated to cost $1bn. ChevronTexaco alleges that all operating decisions were taken by a consortium with the state oil company, and that a clean-up project of $40m was put in place after they had left the country. This "landmark environmental and human rights trial," as described by Amazon Watch, marks the first time a US multinational corporation is being tried in a foreign court for environmental damages.

BBC News, 8 May 2003

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3009201.stm

Amazon Watch, 2 October 2003

http://www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=722

Business and Human Rights Resource Centre

http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Lawlawsuits/Lawsuitsregulatoryaction
/LawsuitsSelectedcases/TexacoChevronTexacolawsuitsreEcuador

AUSTRALIA ARRESTS POACHING SHIP, SEIZES WILDLIFE PARTS

Australian authorities have arrested the crew of a Uruguayan trawler pursued through Antarctic waters for allegedly poaching endangered fish. Almost 85 metric tons (94 US tons) of Patagonian toothfish – commonly served as Chilean Sea Bass – worth about US$685,000, was found on the boat, allegedly caught in Australian waters close to Antarctica. Following this seizure, Australia began the hunt for another ship suspected of illegally fishing in its southern waters. Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald said the boat was thought to be the Ghanaian-flagged Alos. Ghana has been asked not to issue catch documents for the vessel, which would allow it to sell its load, and cooperation was sought from the 24-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Species (CCAMLR) to prevent the vessel's catch from being offloaded in any of their ports.

Australian authorities have also seized body parts from tigers and rhinoceros in a record haul of illegally imported traditional medicine products made from threatened animals. The wildlife products were found in two shipping containers, which yielded Australia's largest seizure of traditional medicine products made from wildlife, Environment Minister David Kemp and Justice Minister Chris Ellison said in a joint statement.

Environmental News Network, 8 October 2003

http://www.enn.com/news/2003-10-08/s_9217.asp

Joint Media Release of Environment Minister David Kemp and Justice Minister Chris Ellison: Record Seizure of Endangered Species, 2 October 2003

http://www.law.gov.au/www/justiceministerHome.nsf/0/B88093F50989
65E5CA256DB300222BF7?OpenDocument

In defence of dolphin and whale killing, the Japan Small-Type Whaling Association said earlier this year that coastal fishermen have reported that the numbers of whales are growing too large and diminishing the volume of fish. They argued that it is therefore essential to cull the whale population to restore ecosystem balance.

Links to further information

ENS daily news, 7 October 2003

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2003/2003-10-07-03.asp

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society press releases, 7 and 11 October 2003

http://www.seashepherd.org/media_info2.asp?id=61

http://www.seashepherd.org/media_info2.asp?id=63

More than 20,000 people protested against lifting the ban on trials of genetically modified crops in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, in New Zealand. While the government announced that the ban on GM trials would end in a few weeks, protestors demanded that New Zealand remains GM free.

ABC News, 11 October 2003

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s964888.htm

GE Free March

http://www.thebigmarch.net/

SEPTEMBER 2003

HELCOM REPORT ON OXYGEN DEPLETION BLAMES INCREASE IN NUTRIENTS FOR LOSS OF BALTIC SEA WILDLIFE
According to the findings of a report released recently by the Helsinki Commission, the governing body of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, the dramatic loss of marine wildlife recorded last year in the Western Baltic Sea between Denmark, Germany and Sweden is largely the result of extreme weather conditions and an increase in nutrients resulting from human activities. The report recommends stricter controls on nutrients reaching the Baltic Sea to prevent future oxygen depletion.

Report of the Oxygen Depletion 2002 Working Group

http://www.dmu.dk/1_om_dmu/2_afdelinger/3_hav/oxdep2002/default.asp

SADC recommendations on GMO

The Protocol features one set of procedures for GMOs that are to be intentionally introduced into the environment (such as seeds, trees or fish), and one for GMOs that are to be used directly as food or feed or for processing. Both features are designed to ensure that recipient countries are provided with the information required for making informed decisions about whether or not to accept GMO imports. The first Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol will take place in February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety website

http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/default.aspx

CBD press release

http://www.biodiv.org/doc/press/presskits/bs/pr-01-en.pdf

Ole Henrik Magga, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, noted the abuses indigenous people still face and urged them to preserve their culture and languages. In his message, he deplored and condemned "the egregious violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings and involuntary disappearances, the discrimination in the criminal justice system, the forced displacement, the extreme poverty, the danger of extinction of isolated indigenous communities, the continuing threat to indigenous cultures and indigenous lands."

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported that virtually all of the 84 indigenous groups in Colombia face or are threatened by forced displacement due to internal strife. The UNDP issued a survey showing that Chile's Mapuche people, the country's largest indigenous group, suffer many social and economic disparities. 

Meanwhile on another continent, Zambia has formulated its national policy on rhinoceros management and rehabilitation. With the assistance of conservation experts and wildlife managers from the 14 member countries of the Southern Africa Development Community, the Zambia Wildlife Authority finalized the policy document, which aims to reverse the current destructive trends and promote rhinos' conservation. Development of this policy would see the reintroduction of the black rhino, which has been poached to extinction in Zambia.

http://www.ea.gov.au/coasts/species/turtles/recovery/index.html

Environment News Service, 29 July 2003

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2003/2003-07-29-02.asp

The new natural sites are: Australia's Purnululu National Park; Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas in China; Uvs Nuur Basin in both the Russian Federation and Mongolia; Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland; and Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam. The committee also extended a natural site that is already inscribed on the list to cover a greater area, the Central Amazon Conservation Complex in Brazil. One natural and two cultural sites were determined to be in grave danger and were inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, namely the Walled City of Baku in Azerbaijan, Comoé National Park in Côte d'Ivoire, and Nepal's Kathmandu Valley.

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php@URL_ID=10122&URL
_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
 

During the opening session, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that it is time for the world to stop talking about rural development and to start acting. Emphasizing that the Doha programme aims to eliminate unfair agricultural trading policies faced by the rural poor and to open markets in developed countries, he said this programme is a critical step in changing the framework of global agricultural policy.

UN press release, 2 July 2003

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=7611&Cr=ecosoc&Cr1= 

Environment News Service, 1 July 2003

http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2003/2003-07-01-10.asp

The draft text of the Ministerial Declaration is available at:

http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ecosoc/

The regulations put forward a single procedure for the authorization of GMOs and GM food in the EU, with a scientific risk assessment carried out by the European Food Safety Authority. Member States will be allowed to take appropriate measures to avoid the unintended presence of GMOs in other products.

The new legislation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. While the European Commission has repeatedly said that the de facto moratorium would be lifted once the regulations entered into force, it remains unclear whether the US and others would drop their WTO challenge even if approvals resumed. US farm organizations and trade officials criticized the regulations as unworkable and unenforceable.
 

European Commission press release IP/03/1056, 22 July 2003

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt
=gt&doc=IP/03/1056|0|RAPID&lg=EN

Bridges Trade BioRes, Vol. 3 No. 13, 11 July 2003

http://www.ictsd.org/biores/03-07-11/index.htm

Information on the US-EC dispute on GMOs

http://www.ictsd.org/issarea/environment/biotech_case.htm
 

FORMER WFP CHIEF AWARDED 2003 WORLD FOOD PRIZE
Catherine Bertini, UN Under-Secretary-General for Management and former head of the UN World Food Programme, has been awarded the 2003 World Food Prize. The World Food Prize Foundation praised Bertini's contribution in transforming the WFP "from primarily a development assistance organization into the largest and most responsive humanitarian relief organization in the world, delivering life-sustaining food aid to over 700 million people." The prize, referred to as the "Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture," will be awarded on 16 October, World Food Day.

UN press release, 17 July 2003

http://www0.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=7760&Cr=world&Cr1=food

UNESCO press release, 9 July 2003

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php@URL_ID=13496&URL_
DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director, said "this new regime promises to make the international trade in GMOs more transparent while introducing important safety measures that will meet the needs of consumers, industry and the environment for many decades to come." Toepfer added that the success of the protocol "depends on developing countries having the skills and systems in place for evaluating GMO imports and handling them safely." To this end, UNEP, with funding from the Global Environment Facility, is overseeing a $38.4 million scheme to help 100 countries develop the scientific and legal skills for evaluating the health and environmental issues surrounding imports of Living Modified Organisms, as they are known under the Protocol.

http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/signinglist.asp?sts=rtf&ord=dt

"All partners share the same vision and principles for achieving sustainable development and biodiversity conservation in the coastal zone. This [Strategy] will now allow efficient, cost-effective and highly beneficial synergies and exchanges of information among tens of different institutions responsible for managing resources over 3,500 km of coastline," said Pierre Campredon, Executive Secretary of the International Foundation for the Banc d'Arguin (FIBA) and leader for the production of the Strategy.

The outcome of collaboration between IUCN, WWF, Wetlands International, FIBA, UNESCO and the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission, the Regional Strategy has garnered the support of a further 50 conservation, research and development organizations. The coalition will work on key recommendations from the WSSD and NEPAD to establish an efficient network of national or Transboundary MPAs, restore fisheries to sustainable levels, preserve traditional know-how and cultural heritage of local communities and develop ecotourism.

IUCN news release, 16 June 2003

http://www.iucn.org/info_and_news/press/prmarinewaf.pdf

The Communiqué of partners

http://www.iucn.org/info_and_news/press/marinewaf.pdf

BIODIVERSITY ESSENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May), Kofi Annan recalled that "biological diversity is essential for human existence and has a crucial role to play in sustainable development and the eradication of poverty. Biodiversity provides millions of people with livelihoods, helps to ensure food security and is a rich source of both traditional medicines and modern pharmaceuticals." Hamdallah Zedan, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, highlighted that the theme of this year's International Day for Biological Diversity, Biodiversity and poverty alleviation - challenges for sustainable development, underscores the pivotal role of biological diversity in eradicating poverty through sustainable development and benefit sharing.

Links to further information
CBD Secretariat Press Release, 22 May 2003
http://www.biodiv.org/doc/press/pr-2003-05-22-bioday-en.doc

USTR Press Release, 13 May 2003
http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2003/05/03-31.pdf

US Consultation request to the European Commission
http://www.ustr.gov/new/biotech-consultation_request.pdf

DFAIT Press Release, 13 May 2003
http://webapps.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/minpub/Publication.asp?FileSpec=
/Min_Pub_Docs/106146.htm&Language=E

DG Trade Press Release, 13 May 2003

http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/goods/agri/pr130503_en.htm

FOEE Press Release, 13 May 2003

http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2003/AW_13_May_Moment.htm

Global Trade Watch Press Release, 13 May 2003

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1422

BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest, 14 May 2003

http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/03-05-14/story1.htm

On 13 April, scientists from the Human Genome Project announced that they had decoded nearly 100% of the human genome structure, almost two years ahead of schedule. This accomplishment signifies that almost three billion letters of genetic codes in the human DNA structure have been identified. From June 2000, 97% of the human DNA information had been decoded and made freely available to scientists on the internet. However, scientists and the pharmaceutical industry are still facing the challenge of moving from identifying a malfunctioning gene, to being able to do something about it. 

BBC News, 14 April, 2003

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2940601.stm

Kenyan wildlife authorities announced the seizure of a major haul of illegal ivory and the arrest of five people near the country's border with Ethiopia. Referring to the decision by last year's Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to allow Namibia, South Africa and Botswana to stage one-off sales of their ivory stock piles, the Kenyan officers said they feared that even limited, regulated sales would encourage poaching, and insisted that a ban on all ivory trade should remain in place.

BBC online news, 25 February 2003

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2797325.stm

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) has recently been launched with the aim to create a US$150 million fund to address environmental hotspots around the world. A joint initiative of the World Bank, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Japanese government, the Fund has already contributed $2 million to the "Building a Global Constituency for Biodiversity Conservation" project. The project, which helps protect endangered species and create new reserves and environmental legislation in more than 30 countries, is the result of an alliance between the RARE Center for Tropical Conservation and Conservation International. "RARE is the institution of choice when it comes to demonstrated leadership in the conservation awareness business," said Jorgen Thomsen, CEPF Executive Director. "With this grant, the largest we've ever issued, we will not only help to take RARE to a new level but significantly increase the number of new conservation leaders that result from RARE's awareness campaigns."

World Bank press release, 25 February 2003

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:2009
3921~menuPK:34457~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html

Conservation International press release, 20 February 2003

http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/newsroom/press_releases/022603a.xml

The recent rise in the number of applications for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) scheduled to go through the EU approval process could mean that the EU moratorium on releases and placing on the market of GMOs is ending. Eighteen applications for placing GM products on the market, forwarded by Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK are now awaiting public comments and the Member States' opinion on their circulation.

The approval process of GMOs in the EU has been blocked since late 1998, when Denmark, Greece, France, Italy and Luxembourg, then supported by Austria, enforced a de facto moratorium, until the deliberate release directive is revised and new legislation on GM food and feed, and traceability and labelling is developed. According to the voting system, these countries can still block authorizations if they wish to uphold the moratorium.

This development comes against continuous rumours over possible plans by the US to challenge the EU moratorium in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Reportedly, a decision to take action was due at the end of January, but was then postponed.

Environment Daily, 19 February 2003

http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=13882

List of GMO notifications

http://gmoinfo.jrc.it/partc_browse.asp

Bananas could be extinct within the next decade, according to findings by the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain. As reported in New Scientist, bananas could be globally extinct in 2013 from fungus attacks. As almost all banana varieties are sterile mutants, the plant cannot breed and thus evolve to develop resistance to pests. The possibility of extinction would pose a problem to the 140 million people, mainly in Africa and Asia, whose staple diet is based on bananas and plantains, as well as to the many countries economically dependant on banana exports and plantations.

Fungus-resistant GM bananas have been presented as a possible alternative, but growers fear consumer resistance and are meanwhile hoping for better fungicides. Honduran scientists have recently discovered a fungus-resistant variety that could be grown organically.

The Guardian, 16 January 2003

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,875786,00.html