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Japan Defiant as EC, US Throw Weight behind Bluefin Tuna Ban
With only a week left before countries begin discussions on whether bluefin tuna should be classified as a species that is “threatened with extinction,” the US has announced it will join a growing number of countries calling for a trade ban. But shortly following the announcement, Japan - the world’s largest importer of bluefin -…
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UN Inches toward Creation of a ‘World Environment Organisation’
Environment ministers and UN officials gathering at a major summit in Bali have officially launched a process that could lead to the establishment of a ‘World Environment Organisation’, a multilateral institution for global environmental governance that some say could be modelled after the WTO. “A coherent and effective international environmental governance architecture can provide…
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BBC Documentary shakes up Sustainable Palm Industry
Multinational conglomerate Unilever has blacklisted Duta Palma, a certified sustainable Indonesian palm producer, after a BBC documentary revealed the company’s staff clearing protected rainforest to make way for plantations. The move comes only two months after Unilever blacklisted another Indonesian company, PT SMART, for unsustainable practices. Both blacklisted companies are approved members…
- In Brief
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US Senator’s Remarks Cast Doubt on Cap-and-Trade
The shape of potential US climate and energy legislation remains uncertain, as remarks by influential lawmakers have called into question whether a future Senate bill will include a cap-and-trade system for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. “Cap-and-trade is dead,” Senator Lindsey Graham told a group of environmental leaders in a private -meeting last week, the Washington Post…
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UNFCCC Announces Climate Talks Schedule for 2010
The secretariat of the UN climate convention has announced that the next round of formal talks will be held from 9 to 11 April in Bonn, Germany. Speaking on 23 February, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), described the move as “a quick return to the negotiations.” “The…
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OECD Ag Ministers Tackle Food Security
Agriculture ministers from the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) gathered in Paris late last week to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing their agriculture and food systems and to explore how to they can make those systems more sustainable. The meeting, which marked the first time in 12 years…
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MEPs Say Abandon “Top-Down” Approach to Fisheries
European Parliamentarians are urging the EU to adopt a more decentralised approach to fisheries management when it comes to redrafting the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The non-binding report, adopted by European Parliament on 25 February, aims to be a contribution to a wider public discussion on how the CFP should be overhauled. “Fisheries management must abandon…
- Events
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Events
For a more comprehensive list of events for the trade and environment community visit the BioRes online calendar, http://ictsd.net/news/biores/events/. Coming up in the next two weeks (5-19 March) 9 March, Washington, US. REPORT LAUNCH: STATE OF THE BIODIVERSITY MARKETS: OFFSET AND COMPENSATION PROGRAMS WORLDWIDE. Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace will host a release of its recent report…
- Resources
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Resources
If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy for review by the BioRes staff to Andrew Aziz at aaziz@ictsd.ch. CONFRONTING BIOPIRACY: CHALLENGES, CASES AND INTERNATIONAL DEBATES. By Daniel F. Robinson. February 2010. “Biopiracy” refers either to the unauthorised extraction of biological…