Events

For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD's web calendar. Events at the IUCN World Conservation Congress will be held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. The full Programme is available on the WCC3 website.

IUCN-ICTSD Events @ the IUCN World Conservation Congress

19 November, 9:00-16:30, Meeting Room 4: INTERNATIONAL TRADE - FRIEND OR FOE OF BIODIVERSITY? This session will look at a number of key challenges, including balancing the benefits of trade against environmental risk, controlling illegal trade in natural resources, ensuring equitable and efficient use of genetic resources, and reconciling the liberalisation of trade in services with sustainable use of natural resources. The sessions will include:

• Setting the stage - Trade and Investment, Friend or Foe?
  
• Cutting our Losses - Reducing Illegal Trade in Natural Resources
  
• Seeking Synergies between the CBD and TRIPS
  
• Environmental Services at the WTO: Liberalisation, Privatisation and Subsidies

21 November: LINKING CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND TRADE POLICY. A Training Workshop for conservation practitioners, jointly organised by IUCN and ICTSD as part of the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress. The course will assist practitioners in understanding how trade policy affects biodiversity-related activities on the ground and consequently try to soften or advert negative effects while enhancing potential positive effects. It aims to enable actors to implement and develop progressive ideas aimed at strengthening the mutual supportiveness between trade policy and biodiversity objectives. For further information visit Heike Baumüller, tel: (+41 22) 917 8478; email: hbaumuller@ictsd.ch.

Other Trade-related Events at the Congress

18-20 November: MARKETS, BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENT. This theme will explore how markets can function more sustainably, how companies can manage biodiversity in their operations, how to develop new business based on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and the role of governance frameworks. Specific sessions include:

• Will capitalism conserve or consume the planet?
  
• Corporate social responsibility - Help or hindrance?
  
• Business & Biodiversity partnerships - Making it happen!
  
• Certification for sustainability
  
• Investing in Sustainability - What tools do we have? What tools do we need?
  
• Ecosystems for sale in an unequal world
  
• Strengthening corporate social responsibility, law and policy

18-20 November, Bangkok, Thailand: BIODIVERSITY LOSS AND SPECIES EXTINCTION - MANAGING RISK IN A CHANGING WORLD. Relationships between risk and global change, including globalisation, security and global warming, and the impact of change on our capacity to reverse the loss of biodiversity and secure ecosystem integrity will be explored. The effectiveness of approaches to monitor change and assess risks to biodiversity and people will be reviewed. The tools and mechanisms to better manage conservation interventions and address species extinction will be identified. Broadly, the workshop will address vulnerability and adaptation to climate change; meeting the World Summit on Sustainable Development target of reversing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010; and capacity and technology transfer needs to conserve species.

18 November, 19:30-22:00, Breakout Room 08: WHAT FUTURE FOR ASIA WILDLIFE TRADE? TRAFFIC Southeast Asia - Sponsored Workshop. This workshop will identify and further investigate means to forge a comprehensive and strategic approach to managing wildlife trade, including the role that IUCN can play in this regard.

18 November, 19:30-22:00, Breakout Room 05: PRESENTING THE ADDIS ABABA PRINCIPLES: SUSTAINABLE USE OF BIODIVERSITY AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS. Sustainable Use Specialist Group of IUCN/SSC - Sponsored Workshop. This workshop will set out the Addis Principles and Guidelines for Sustainable Use of Biodiversity recently adopted by COP 7 of the CBD at Kuala Lumpur, highlighting some of the Principles by examples of sustainable use and its relevance for livelihoods from various sectors and regions, including wildlife trade.

18 November, 20:30-22:00, Press Centre: LIVE REEF FOOD-FISH TRADE: UNSUSTAINABLE PRACTICES TARGET SPAWNING AGGREGATIONS AND JUVENILES FISHES. Society for the Conservation of Reef Fish Aggregations - Conservation Platform. International trade in live reef food-fish is growing in the Indo-Pacific region but, despite potential to add value to fish production, is often practiced unsustainably. In particular, spawning aggregations and juveniles are often exploited, undermining fish populations, threatening species, and compromising dependent fisheries and livelihoods.

19 November, 12:00-14:00, Roundtable D1: NEW INSTITUTIONS FOR MULTILATERAL COOPERATION ON ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. National Wildlife Federation - Sponsored Workshop. The need for institutions like the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation to develop plans to assist developing countries to deal with consequences of trade and enhanced economic activity (toxic pollution, habitat destruction, etc.) and to foster multilateral cooperation on solutions will be discussed.

19 November 2004, 17:00-19:00, Breakout Room 11: BUSINESS AND BIODIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS - WHAT DIFFERENCE DO THEY MAKE? Several case studies will explore the impacts of partnerships with business - What difference do partnerships make for conservation? How is this measured and reported? What can partnerships do that conservation NGOs or companies cannot achieve by themselves? To what extent is the conservation agenda compromised to accommodate business interests?

19 November, 19:30-21:00, Breakout Room 06: COMBATING ILLEGAL LOGGING AND ASSOCIATED TRADE IN THE TROPICS. International Tropical Timber Organization - Conservation Platform. Illegal logging is a major threat to sustainable forest management in the tropics. How can international organisations such as ITTO and IUCN help to reduce this threat?

20 November, 11:30-14:00, Breakout Room 08: ESTIMATING AND REALISING THE VALUE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. Organised by the Foundation for Sustainable Development. This workshop will discuss methods and guidelines for economic valuation of ecosystem services and provide practical examples of how this information can be used to finance sustainable use of ecosystems and protected areas. The workshop will launch a Clearing House on Ecosystem Service Valuation and Financing.

Coming up in the next two weeks

15-19 November, Rome, Italy: SECOND MEETING OF THE COMMISSION ON GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ACTING AS THE INTERIM COMMITTEE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL TREATY ON PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE. The Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is a permanent forum where governments discuss and negotiate matters relevant to genetic resources for food and agriculture. The main objectives of the CGRFA are to ensure the conservation and sustainable utilisation of genetic resources for food and agriculture, as well the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use, for present and future generations. For further information contact Alvaro Toledo, email: Alvaro.Toledo@fao.org; tel: 39-6-5705-2753; fax: 39-6-5705-6347.

15-16 November, Monterray, Mexico: 8TH INTERNATIONAL HIGH-LEVEL SEMINAR ON SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION. The United Nations Environment Program's 8th International High-level Seminar on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) will address two basic themes: 'Environment and Basic Needs' and 'Global Challenges and Business' and will seek to create a new vision for the work of the international community to promote more sustainable lifestyles. For further information contact UNEP DTIE, Production and Consumption Branch, email: SCP8@unep.fr; tel: 33-1-4437-1439; fax: 33-1-4437-1474.

22-26 November, Prague, Czech Republic: 16TH MEETING OF THE PARTIES TO THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL. Organised by: Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. For furthe information contact Montreal Protocol Secretary, tel: + 254 2 623850, Fax: +254 20 62 4691; email: ozoneinfo@unep.org:

29 November - 2 December, Beijing, China: UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR TRAINING PROGRAMME ON THE WTO AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. This 4-day training workshop is organized by the United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), in collaboration with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The workshop will provide training on WTO and sustainable development issues for 40 university professors from North East Asia. Trainees will come from developing (China, Mongolia and Russia) and developed countries (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan and South Korea) in North East Asia. The workshop aims to provide participants with an understanding of the WTO's rules and regulations and their implications for sustainable development, including topics such as trade and environment, trade and health, etc. The program also aims to promote the integration of these topics into university curricula, in order to enhance developing countries' capacity to participate and negotiate in the multilateral trade system in a more meaningful way. For further information contact Dr. Joy Kim, UNU-IAS, email: kim@ias.unu.edu; tel: 81-45-221-2316.