Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 2 • Number 14 • 26th September 2002
Australia Questions Validity of CBD Decision on Alien Species
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At the recent Bureau meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Australia –supported by the US, New Zealand and Canada — again raised concerns regarding the Guiding Principles on Alien Species, with Australia going as far as declaring the decision to adopt the Principles as illegitimate. The Principles were adopted by the Working Group at the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the CBD in April 2002, but when put to the final plenary, Australia rejected them due to concerns that the ambiguous language on the precautionary approach and references to socio-economic and cultural considerations in the context of risk management might result in conflicts with obligations under trade agreements (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 2 May 2002, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/02-05-02/story1.htm). Australia, supported by the same countries, had also noted these reservations at the WTO’s information session with multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in June 2002. The President of the Bureau has been authorised to conduct informal discussion on both of Australia’s substantive concerns.
ICTSD Reporting.
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