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CITES Assumes New Role in Regulating Trade in Economically Valuable Species
CITES ASSUMES NEW ROLE IN REGULATING TRADE IN ECONOMICALLY VALUABLE SPECIES The Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) has assumed a new role in regulating international trade in endangered wildlife with a number of landmark decisions taken at the 12th Conference of the Parties in Santiago, Chile (3-15 November) related…
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Trade, Environment Officials Progress on MEA-WTO Links
TRADE, ENVIRONMENT OFFICIALS PROGRESS ON MEA-WTO LINKS On 11 and 12 November, officials from WTO Member trade and environment ministries convened with multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) secretariats for two back-to-back meetings, where they considered the relationship between the WTO and MEAs, in particular how to improve information exchange between the two regimes. The 11 November session,…
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Tropical Timber Organisation Narrows Gap on Timber Certification
TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANISATION NARROWS GAP ON TIMBER CERTIFICATION The conciliatory tone during discussions on the controversial issue of certification as a means to promote sustainable forest management was widely seen as one of the substantive successes of the thirty-third session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC-33), held from 4 to 9 November in Yokohama, Japan.…
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COMESA Recognises Need for Regional GMO Policy
Agricultural ministers of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), meeting in Kampala (Uganda) on 4 November, agreed to create a regional policy on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), thereby responding to recent concerns throughout the area regarding GMOs, in particular GM food aid. This agreement followed a decision by Southern African Development Community…
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Civil Society Groups Question Approval Process for GMOs in India
The civil society groups Gene Campaign, Forum for Biotechnology and others have urged the Central Vigilance Commissioner to review the conduct of India’s regulatory and scientific agencies, and in particular to assess the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) responsible for GM crop approval. Those questioning GEAC’s activities highlighted lack of transparency, which they said had…
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SPS Committee Discusses EU GMO Regulations as Possible WTO Challenge Looms
At the 7-8 November meeting of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), the US, Canada, Australia, Argentina and the Philippines again raised concerns regarding the EU’s continued de facto moratorium on the approval of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (see BRIDGES Weekly, 27 June 2002). Australia also added concerns regarding the EU’s…
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“Call of the Earth” Initiative to be Launched to Protect IP and TK
An international group of experts on intellectual property (IP) and indigenous people’s traditional knowledge (TK) will launch a three-year independent global project at a global dialogue in Bellagio on 25-30 November. The initiative, called “Call of the Earth: Ancient Wisdom for Sustaining Livelihoods, Cultures, and Environments” is aimed at the protection of IP and TK…
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Ramsar in Negotiations Deadlock over Invasive Species
At the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-8) to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, taking place in Valencia, Spain, from 18 to 26 November, negotiations on invasive species have reached a deadlock in the contact group, due to deep divisions among Parties over a EU proposal to include a reference to the decision on alien…
- Events
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Events
For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. Coming up in the next two weeks 18 -…
- 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 or review by the BRIDGES staff to Heike Baumüller. GLOBAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS KNOWLEDGE, ACCESS, AND DEVELOPMENT. Edited by Peter Drahos and Ruth Mayne, 2002. The publication analyses the potential threats of intellectual…