Bridges Trade BioRes

Volume 7 • Number 3 16th February 2007

  • TRADE FEATURES PROMINENTLY AT UNEP GOVERNING COUNCIL
    TRADE FEATURES PROMINENTLY AT UNEP GOVERNING COUNCIL At a recent meeting, the new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner and WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy — echoed by a number of environment ministers and other high-level participants — called for improving the synergies between the trade and environment regimes. In addition to Lamy, several heads of…
  • DISCLOSURE OF ORIGIN AGAIN ON THE TRIPS COUNCIL AGENDA
    DISCLOSURE OF ORIGIN AGAIN ON THE TRIPS COUNCIL AGENDA At a recent meeting of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, countries largely reiterated known positions on the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Meanwhile, informal consultations on how to move the issue forward are ongoing, following the…
  • DISCLOSURE OF ORIGIN AGAIN ON THE TRIPS COUNCIL AGENDA
    DISCLOSURE OF ORIGIN AGAIN ON THE TRIPS COUNCIL AGENDA At a recent meeting of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, countries largely reiterated known positions on the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Meanwhile, informal consultations on how to move the issue forward are ongoing, following the…
  • COMMENTARY: SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT AND TRADE: ARE THEY COMPATIBLE?
    COMMENTARY: SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT AND TRADE: ARE THEY COMPATIBLE? Land degradation - especially in dryland regions - is one of the most significant environmental challenges facing the world today. Whether trade helps or hinders the struggle against this process is a controversial question. Arguably, it is also one which has no easy answer. The impact of trade…
  • In Brief
  • Ministers Agree Steps to Regulate Mercury
    Ministers at a recent high-level environmental gathering have agreed to take steps to limit global exposure to the toxic chemical mercury. As countries remain divided on whether to opt for voluntary commitments or legally-binding rules, they decided to focus on a voluntary programme for the time being, leaving open the possibility to start negotiations on…
  • International Whaling Body in Crisis
    The majority of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) membership chose to boycott a recent Japanese-sponsored meeting seeking to re-commercialise whaling. According to observers, the meeting — which took place against the backdrop of clashes on the sea between Japanese whalers and international anti-whaling activists — demonstrates the escalating crisis rocking the global whaling body. Japan…
  • Dutch Company to Pay for Toxics Clean-Up in Abidjan
    Dutch trading company Trafigura recently offered the government of Cote d’Ivoire US$198 million to help clean up toxic waste released in the capital Abidjan in August 2006. In return, the Ivorian government promised not to prosecute the company and released company officials it had arrested in relation to event. During the night of 19 August, ca…
  • Beluga Caviar Back on the Market
    The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has provided export quotas for Beluga caviar, the most precious caviar species, for the year 2007. This move followed the approval of export quotas for most other caviar species in early January (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 19 January 2007, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-01-19/inbrief.htm). The…
  • Events
  • 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 26…
  • Resources
  • 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. INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN BIOFUELS: GOOD FOR DEVELOPMENT? AND GOOD FOR ENVIRONMENT? By Annie Dufey (IIED, January 2007). Biofuels have been promoted as a means…