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CLIMATE CHANGE HIGH ON 2007 GLOBAL AGENDA
CLIMATE CHANGE HIGH ON 2007 GLOBAL AGENDA The European Commission recently released a comprehensive new energy strategy, seeking to launch the union onto a climate-friendly, low-carbon path. Meanwhile, a consortium of major Asian economies agreed to cooperate on ways to enhance energy security and address climate change, in parallel with efforts to further integrate their trading…
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CONFERENCE CONCLUDES INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF DESERTIFICATION
CONFERENCE CONCLUDES INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF DESERTIFICATION Participants at a conference marking the end of the UN International Year of Deserts and Desertification (IYDD) in December 2006 explored key policy options for reversing land degradation in drylands. While trade was not on the agenda as such, participants highlighted both possible negative impacts of international trade on land…
- In Brief
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CITES Lifts Caspian Caviar Ban
The Caspian sea range states — Russia, Turkmenistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan — will be able to resume their caviar exports in 2007. The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) issued export quotas for three sturgeon species on 2 January, thus ending a ban it imposed a…
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EU, Indonesia Collaborate to Prevent Illegal Logging
The EU and Indonesia have agreed to start negations on creating a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) that would ensure that EU timber imports from Indonesia have been legally harvested. The VPA will be negotiated under the European Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) programme, which was established as a follow-up to the World Summit on…
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Environment Negotiations Low on Priority List of WTO Members
Doha Round environment Chair Ambassador Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh) expressed concern about the slow progress of the talks at a 19 December informal meeting, after Members used the first gathering of the negotiating group since the July suspension largely to restate their positions. With regard to the Doha mandate to expedite trade liberalisation for ‘environmental goods and…
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EU Member States Back Austrian Ban on Biotech Products
In a resounding defeat for the European Commission, a large majority of EU member states on 18 December voted in support of Austria’s right to ban two genetically modified maize varieties. While these crops have already been approved at the EU-wide level, Austria has invoked the safeguard clause under the EU’s approval procedures — allowing…
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FAO: Livestock Diversity Dwindling
The globalisation of markets is severely eroding the genetic diversity of livestock, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on 15 December. According to the first global assessment of the status of animal genetic resources, about 20 percent of animal breeds are at risk of extinction, and one breed lost each month. “Maintaining animal diversity…
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EU Agrees Mild Cod Quota Cuts
Following annual end-of-year talks on fishing quotas, EU ministers agreed on 22 December to cut cod catches in 2007 by 14-20 percent and to reduce the days of fishing at sea by 8-10 percent. The ministers also agreed to reduce quotas on, among other, southern hake, North Sea sole and plaice, ling, and herring in…
- 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. ICTSD Event 31 January-1 February, Geneva, Switzerland: EXPLORATORY…
- 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 BRIDGES staff to Malena Sell. STAYING HOME: HOW ETHANOL WILL CHANGE US CORN EXPORTS. By Mark Muller and Heather Schoonover. IATP, December 2006. This report looks at the growth…