For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. at the IUCN World Conservation Congress will be held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. The full Programme is available on the WCC3 website.
IUCN-ICTSD
21 November: LINKING CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND TRADE POLICY. A Training Workshop for conservation practitioners, jointly organised by IUCN and ICTSD as part of the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress. The course will assist practitioners in understanding how trade policy affects biodiversity-related activities on the ground. It aims to enable actors to implement and develop progressive ideas aimed at strengthening the mutual supportiveness between trade policy and biodiversity objectives. For further information contact Heike Baumüller; email: hbaumuller@ictsd.ch; Internet:
http://www.ictsd.org/dlogue/2004-11-21/2004-11-21_agen.pdf.
Coming up in the next two weeks
17-25 November, Bangkok, Thailand: IUCN WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS: "PEOPLE AND NATURE, MAKING THE DIFFERENCE". Organised by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The Congress will consist of a three-day World Conservation Forum and a four-day Members’ Business Assembly. During the Forum, IUCN members, partners and interested stakeholders will debate options that safeguard the ecosystems upon which future prosperity depends. During the Assembly, IUCN members - governments and NGOs - will approve the 2005-2008 Programme Framework and Financial Plan, elect officers, consider resolutions and recommendations, and set the membership dues. For further information, contact: IUCN, tel: (+41 22) 999-0232; fax: (+41 22) 999-0020; email: ursula.hiltbrunner@iucn.org; Internet: http://www.iucn.org
22-26 November, Prague, Czech Republic: 16TH MEETING OF THE PARTIES TO THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL. Delegates attending MOP-16 will continue their negotiations to phase out the use of various ozone-depleting substances such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons and methyl bromide. For further information contact the Ozone Secretariat, UNEP, tel: +254-2-62-3850; fax: +254-2-62-3601; email: ozoneinfo@unep.org; Internet: http://www.unep.ch/ozone/index.asp
24-26 November, Nairobi, Kenya: JOURNALISTS WORKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUES. Organised by the United Nations Environment Program. For further information contact Mr. Arkadiy Levintanous, tel: + 254 20 623494; Fax: + 254 20 624300; email: Arkadiy.levintanus@unep.org; Internet: www.unep.org
25 November, London, England: EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL: KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES. Organised by the Sustainable Development Programme of Chatham House, this open discussion meeting will discuss a new Briefing Paper on the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol prepared to contribute to the debate in advance of the June 2005 Second Meeting of Parties. The Mid-Term Programme of Work adopted by the First Meeting of Parties to the Biosafety Protocol contains several important items aimed at ensuring effective implementation of the Protocol including the documentation requirements to accompany shipments of genetically modified crops (especially labelling thresholds); strengthening and coordinating capacity building initiatives; and the role of sanctions in the compliance mechanism. The meeting will focus on the key controversies, proposals, and political prospects in relation to labelling, capacity building, and non-compliance. For further information and to register contact Gemma Green, tel: +44 (0) 20 7957 5711; email: ggreen@chathamhouse.org.uk; Internet: http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/pdf/research/sdp/M251104.doc
25-27 November, Dhaka, Bangladesh: ASIA-PACIFIC PEOPLE’S CONVENTION ON FOOD SOVEREIGNTY. This conference, co-organised by the Asia Pacific Research Network, People’s Food Sovereignty Network Asia-Pacific and the Policy Research for Development Alternative (UBINIG), hopes to provide analysis on current trends in food and agriculture, promote people’s food sovereignty as alternative, to solve problems in food and agriculture, prepare people’s intervention for the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference and other regional/bilateral agreements and to promote and strengthen local, national and popular movements and initiatives. For further information contact UBINIG, tel: (+880-2) 8111465, 8116420; fax: 8113065; email: nkrishi@bdmail.net; Internet: http://www.peoplesfoodsovereignty.org/PFSConv.htm
25-28 November, Tunis, Tunisia: FOURTH FORUM AFRICA - LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ON COMBATING DESERTIFICATION. The theme of this meeting organised by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is sustainable agricultural farming systems. For further information contact Mr. Hama-Arba Diallo, tel: 49-228-815-2800; fax: 49-228-815-2899; email: secretariat@unccd.int; Internet: http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/jointcalendar/
29 November - 2 December, Beijing, China: UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR TRAINING PROGRAMME ON THE WTO AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. This 4-day training workshop is organized by the United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), in collaboration with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The workshop will provide training on WTO and sustainable development issues for 40 university professors from North East Asia. Trainees will come from developing (China, Mongolia and Russia) and developed countries (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan and South Korea) in North East Asia. The workshop aims to provide participants with an understanding of the WTO’s rules and regulations and their implications for sustainable development, including topics such as trade and environment, trade and health, etc… The program also aims to promote the integration of these topics into university curricula, in order to enhance developing countries’ capacity to participate and negotiate in the multilateral trade system in a more meaningful way. For further information contact Dr. Joy Kim, UNU-IAS, tel: 81-45-221-2316; email: kim@ias.unu.edu.
29 November - 3 December, Dakar, Senegal: GLOBAL WASH FORUM 2004 - WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE FOR ALL - SOLUTIONS AND ACTIONS, LOCAL AND NATIONAL. Organised by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), the first Global WASH Forum aims to draw lessons on the success of water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, sector reforms and development partnerships in poverty eradication, and to strengthen regional and national partnership initiatives aimed at attaining the relevant goals of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Millenium Development Goals. For further information contact Saholy Ravelojaona, tel: 41-22-917-8657; fax: 41-22-917-8084; email: wsscc@who.int; Internet: http://www.wsscc.org/Dakar
30 November - 2 December, Geneva, Switzerland: WTO COUNCIL ON TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (TRIPS). For further information contact the WTO Information and Media Relations Division, Geneva; tel: (41-22) 739- 5007; fax: (41-22) 739-5458; email: enquiries@wto.org
30 November - 4 December, Penang, Malaysia: SEVENTH ASIAN FISHERIES FORUM. Organised by the Asian Fisheries Society, this Forum will include symposia, plenary and technical sessions to address the status of Asian fisheries. For further information contact the Forum Secretariat, tel: 60-4-653-3888 ex 3961; fax: 60-4-656-5125; email: usmppskh@streamyx.com; Internet: http://www.usm.my/7AFF2004
Other Upcoming
6-9 December, Cairo, Egypt: WORLD CONFERENCE ON ENERGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES. Organised by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport, this conference seeks to provide a forum for discussions between energy experts, technology users and manufacturers/suppliers, decision makers and planners, and interested business for the near-term deployment of sustainable energy technologies and concepts, particularly in relation to the Middle East. For further information contact Fuad Abulfotuh, Arab Academy, email: mceet@link.net; Internet: http://www.aast.edu/mceet/confindex.htm
14-16 December, Beirut, Lebanon: MEETING ON MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY: TECHNICAL AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS IN THE NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION. This meeting is organised by the team on technology for Sustainable Development at the UN Economic & Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in cooperation with FAO. It aims to provide policy and decision-makers in the region with the current state of knowledge on applications of biotechnology and genetic engineering, their challenges and opportunities, and a status of the institutional and enabling frameworks in the region. For further information contact Omar F. Bizri, tel: +961-1-978506; email: bizri@un.org; Internet: http://www.escwa.org.lb/information/meetings/events/2004/14-16dec/main.html