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Graham Absent as US Senators Unveil Climate Bill
United States Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced new draft climate legislation on Wednesday, ten months after the House of Representatives passed its own bill to cut US emissions of greenhouse gases. Senators Kerry (a Democrat) and Lieberman (an Independent) are the chief sponsors of the nearly 1,000-page piece of legislation, which aims to bolster…
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UN Proclaims Global Failure in Protection of Biodiversity
Countries have failed to meet their 2010 targets for preserving biodiversity and most future scenarios project continued high levels of extinction and habitat loss throughout the 21st century, according to a new report released by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which operates under the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 warns…
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WIPO Committee Increases Pace of Talks on Traditional Knowledge
The 16th session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) witnessed agreement on the establishment of Inter-sessional Working Groups (IWGs). With this matter resolved, delegates hoped to accelerate the committee’s substantive work, which aims to produce a draft…
- In Brief
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WTO Fisheries Talks Focus on Special Treatment for Poor Countries
Establishing appropriate levels of special and differential treatment (S&DT) for developing country fisheries subsidies monopolised the agenda as negotiators met at the WTO from 3 to 7 May. The S&DT focus was pushed primarily by an in-depth analysis from WWF of a negotiating proposal tabled by Brazil, China, India, and Mexico on 11 February (TN/RL/GEN/163). The…
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Cameroon, EU Ink Timber Trade Deal
After 31 months of negotiations, Cameroon and the EU have signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) aimed at ensuring only legally harvested timber from the West African country enters the domestic or EU marketplace. Once implemented, the VPA will apply to all wood products harvested or produced in Cameroon, one of Africa’s largest exporters of…
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Possible WTO Case over EU Palm Oil Restrictions?
At a recent meeting among Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil producers, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok - the Malaysian Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister - said the European Renewable Energy Directive unfairly excluded palm oil from the EU market. The meeting on 3 May launched a new grouping of six Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil producer…
- 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 (14-28 May) 24-28 May, Guatemala City, Guatemala. 26TH SESSION OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN FORESTRY COMMISSION. This biennial meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Forestry Commission (Comisión Forestal…
- 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. THE EFFECTIVENESS, EFFICIENCY AND EQUITY OF MARKET-BASED AND VOLUNTARY MEASURES TO MITIGATE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM THE AGRI-FOOD SECTOR. By Alexander Kasterine…