Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 10 • 2nd June 2006

Mutual Supportiveness of WTO, CBD a “Slight Problem”: Lamy

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At a speech during the 30 May opening ceremony of the annual EU “Green Week”, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy suggested that the WTO faces two environmental challenges, namely how to deal with unilateral transboundary actions to protect the environment and how the WTO should interface with MEA rules. Noting that the WTO dispute ruling on the shrimp-turtle case led to the creation of a new MEA on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats in the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia, he suggested that the WTO could also employ MEAs to achieve its trade and sustainable development objectives, including as a legal framework to prevent one country from taking a unilateral trade-related action for environmental purposes. In reference to the Convention on Biological Diversity, he noted that “we have a slight problem in that WTO and CBD rules and objectives” are not identical, and that Members are divided particularly on whether there is a need for an amendment to the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to reflect better the CBD objective of ensuring fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from biodiversity. “It is incumbent on all countries to use intellectual property rights in a manner that fosters biodiversity,” he argued. On 29 May, Lamy met with CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf to discuss how the two organisations can work together to fulfil their mandates, achieve sustainable development and be mutually supportive. The first-ever meeting of the WTO Director-General and CBD Executive Secretary opened up “new avenues of collaboration”, Djoghlaf said.

The EU’s Green Week conference, organised to celebrate international environment day (see related In Brief, this issue), was held 30 May - 2 June and examined, amongst other issues, the impact of trade on biodiversity. During a session on 1 June, participants discussed how biodiversity could be used as a means to facilitate economic development. For example, delegates examined how the “branding” of nature-based products and eco tourism may be advantageous to biodiversity and growth in developing countries.

For more information on Green Week, visit http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/poster.html

“Lamy urges members to support multilateral environmental accords,” WTO, 30 May 2006; “Biodiversity: Vaclav Havel questions economic growth obsession,” EURACTIV, 30 May 2006.