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DOHA ROUND NEGOTIATIONS OFFICIALLY RE-LAUNCHED
DOHA ROUND NEGOTIATIONS OFFICIALLY RE-LAUNCHED The Doha round talks are set to resume full-scale again. On 31 January, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy told a heads-of-delegation meeting in Geneva that Members would resume "negotiations fully across the whole spectrum." This decision followed shortly on a meeting between nearly 30 ministers on 27 January at the sidelines of…
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LANDMARK CLIMATE REPORT LINKS HUMAN ACTIVITY TO GLOBAL WARMING
LANDMARK CLIMATE REPORT LINKS HUMAN ACTIVITY TO GLOBAL WARMING The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the scientific body examining global climate research — used unprecedented language in its fourth report to describe human impact on the climate system. According to the IPCC, global warming was "very likely" caused by human activity. On 2 February,…
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US RELEASES DRAFT FARM BILL; TRADING PARTNERS CHALLENGE CORN SUBSIDIES
US RELEASES DRAFT FARM BILL; TRADING PARTNERS CHALLENGE CORN SUBSIDIES On 31 January, the US administration unveiled a first draft of its new farm bill, set to replace the current bill from 2002 that expires in September. US trading partners are scrutinising the new farm bill with a keen eye, looking for signals that the US…
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ABS EXPERTS FLESH OUT CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN
ABS EXPERTS FLESH OUT CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN Biodiversity experts recently met to discuss options for introducing an international certificate of origin for genetic material. The certificate would serve as a tracing mechanism to ensure transparency in the flow of such resources. The group of technical experts on an internationally recognised certificate of origin/source/legal provenance met in Lima,…
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COMMENTARY: CONTINENTAL COLLISION - REFLECTIONS ON GLOBALISATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
COMMENTARY: CONTINENTAL COLLISION - REFLECTIONS ON GLOBALISATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT Geologists tell us that the earth’s continents were once joined in a single land mass. We can imagine that many species of plant and animal ranged widely across the super-continent. When the continents that we now inhabit began to move apart, we can likewise imagine that…
- In Brief
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WTO Members Discuss Information Exchange with MEAs
WTO Members met on 23 January to discuss the relationship between the secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and the WTO. Sources report that the politically contentious discussions did not go far. Paragraph 31(ii) of the Doha Declaration mandated Members to negotiate on observership status for MEA secretariats at the WTO as well as procedures for…
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Sushi: Not So Good for Tuna Stocks
In order to respond to rapidly dwindling tuna stocks, the five Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) responsible for tuna conservation recently met in a first joint meeting. Japan, the largest tuna consumer worldwide, hosted the meeting from 22-26 January in Kobe. The meeting reached an agreement on a first global plan to address the over-fishing of…
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Greenpeace Calls for Halt to Fish Trade
A new report released by Greenpeace International, entitled “Trading Away Our Oceans,” uses data from OECD, EU, and UNEP publications to argue that liberalisation in the fish and fishery products sector will have a devastating effect on the developing world. The paper was released 19 January at the World Social Forum 2007, held in Nairobi,…
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Opinions Clash Over GM Crops
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), an industry-supported group, recently released their annual report on genetically modified (GM) crops, predicting a substantial increase in Asia. Scheduled to coincide with the ISAAA release, environmental group Friends of the Earth (FOE) published a new report highlighting the failure of GM technology to perform.…
- 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 at UNEP Governing Council 5-9 February, Nairobi, Kenya:…
- 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. THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD. Edited by Robert Falkner (Palgrave, November 2006). Genetically modified food is at the heart of a new…