A number of environmental groups participating in recent meetings under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have stepped up their campaign against genetically modified (GE) trees.
The STOP GE Trees Campaign, which currently consists of 137 member organisations in 34 countries around the world, called for an immediate ban on genetically engineered trees, urging the CBD and all national governments to oppose this threat.
“These so-called second generation agrofuels are further driving the commercialisation of GE trees and will result in increased illegal logging and accelerated conversion of forests to massive monoculture tree plantations of both conventional and GE trees,” Anne Peterman, Co-Director of Global Justice Ecology Project (the North American Focal Point for Global Forest Coalition) and Co-Coordinator of the STOP GE Trees Campaign, said. “This, in turn, will further drive climate change,”
“Even GE tree scientists acknowledge this threat,” according to Peterman. “In the 2005 FAO report on GE trees, over half of researchers surveyed named unintentional contamination of native ecosystems as a major concern.”
In the official negotiations under the CBD (see related story, this issue of the BioRes), Liberia, along with the African Group, called for suspending the release of any GE trees until an assessment of potential consequences has been made. The EU and Brazil favoured invoking the precautionary principle - as defined under Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration instead of under the Cartagena Protocol, which includes stronger controls - in the use of GE trees. Some observers speculated that this position was linked to a 15-year cooperation agreement on renewable energy and trade — which included using GE trees for biofuel production — signed between Germany and Brazil the week before.
Despite the environmental concerns, the potential gains from using GE trees in the production of paper, biofuels, chemicals, plastics and other products has made the debate anything but straightforward. With environmental concerns on the one hand, and economic concerns on the other, it will be difficult to strike a compromise that will satisfy both sides.
ICTSD reporting; “Deforestation threatens biodiversity efforts,” FOE RELEASE, 22 May 2008; “Genetically engineered trees,” UNDERCOVER COP, 27 May 2008; “Genetically engineered trees hotly debated at the UN Biodiversity Convention in Bonn,” EGOV MONITOR, 27 May 2008; “Groups and scientists call for halt to releases of genetically engineered trees,” THE CANADIAN, 17 May 2008.