In Brief

WORLD BANK WARNS OF 'SILENT FORESTS'

A World Bank report released on 19 November -- entitled "Protecting Asia's Biodiversity: From Crouching Tigers to Hidden Langurs" -- calls attention to the environmental degradation resulting from East Asia's economic growth. The report concludes that uncontrolled logging and illegal wildlife markets create 'silent forests' completely devoid of wildlife. The report notes that while personal wealth and standards of living have risen in the region, so too has environmental degradation, resulting from increased demand for natural resources such as land for non-timber forest resources. As a result, "the region has lost 95 percent of its primary forests; individual countries have lost 70 to 90 percent of their original wilderness; and deforestation continues to accelerate the seemingly inexorable fragmentation and loss of terrestrial and aquatic habitats". A great proportion of the blame is placed on China, where illegal logging has often compensated for insufficient legal imports to meet China's increased demand for wood. In addition, following China's accession to the WTO, tariffs for most timber imports were reduced to zero, thus fuelling imports of wood and expanding exports of wood products such as paper and furniture. East Asian consumption patterns also contribute to environmental degradation, as the region consumes wildlife derivatives ranging from tiger bone medicines to shark fin cuisine and serves as a key supplier to the international wildlife market, both legal and illegal. The World Bank's senior biodiversity specialist for East Asia and Pacific, Tony Whitten, notes that "this illicit trade certainly empties forests, even if we conserve forests, there might not be wildlife in them if we don't put a handle on the illegal wildlife trade".

The report was released at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok following the release last week of the World Bank East Asia Update that saluted the region's economic growth rate of seven percent and rapid recovery from the financial crisis of 1997-1998.

The report is available at http://www.worldbank.org/biodiversity

"Environment: Beware The 'Silent Forests', Warns World Bank," TERRAVIVA, 11 November 2004, "East Asia: Global Uncertainties Threaten to Mar 2005," WORLD BANK GROUP, 9 November 2004.

KYOTO CLOCK SET FOR FEBRUARY

On 18 November UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan received the Russian Federation's instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, thus triggering the 90 day countdown to the entry into force of the climate change agreement. "This is a historic step forward in the world's efforts to combat a truly global threat," said Annan. The Protocol will become legally binding on its 128 Parties on February 16, 2005, at which time 30 industrialised countries will be legally bound to reduce and limit their emissions of six greenhouse gases linked to global warming. The formal hand over of the accession papers on ratification follows a 27 October decision by the Russian Federal Council to ratify the Convention and the 4 November signing of the bill by Russian President Vladimir Putin (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 5 November 2004, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/04-11-05/story4.htm).

"UN Secretary-General receives Russia's Kyoto Protocol ratification," UN, 18 November 2004; "Russia Starts Kyoto Climate Clock Ticking," ENS, 18 November 2004.

COSTA RICA PROPOSES ACTION ON TROPICAL PRODUCTS AT WTO

On 17 November, Costa Rica, on behalf of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, presented a proposal at the WTO on tropical products and products providing an alternative to illicit narcotic crops. During the week of 15-19 November WTO Members convened in informal and formal meetings to continue talks on agriculture, the centrepiece of the ongoing Doha Round of trade negotiations. Among the many issues on the table was the Costa Rican proposal, which notes that full liberalisation of markets for tropical products would provide significant development benefits to countries, including in terms of job creation. The submission therefore proposes bringing down tariffs on these products, removing tariff peaks, abolishing quotas on the products, addressing non-tariff barriers and providing most-favoured nation (MFN) treatment. A number of developing countries responded positively to the proposal, and Peru, one of the co-sponsors, pointed out that it sought to show how special and differential (S&D) treatment could be operationalised in the Doha Round in a way that is positive and offensive, rather than defensive in providing developing countries with longer time periods for implementing agreements.

For full coverage of the 15-19 "agriculture week," see the upcoming issue of BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest on 24 November at http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/index.htm

ICTSD reporting.

AARHUS CONVENTION: EXTENDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION TO GMOS

The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention) Working Group on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) met from 18-20 October in Geneva, Switzerland, for a last-ditch attempt to resolve how to incorporate GMOs into the Convention through a legally binding amendment. When the Aarhus Convention was adopted in 2001, decisions on GMOs were expressly excluded from the binding requirements on public participation set out in Article 6 of the Convention, instead allowing Parties to apply Article 6 to decisions on whether to permit the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment "to the extent feasible and appropriate". Questions discussed during the Working Group meeting included the scope of the Convention's applicability -- to areas such as deliberate release, placing on market and contained use -- and the flexibility accorded to members regarding the extent of the required participation. While countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia as well as environmental NGOs would like to see mandatory public participation on GMO-related decisions, the EU and industry associations favour a non-binding approach. The Working Group on GMOs forwarded four drafting options to the Working Group of the Parties to the Convention, which will discuss them at its next meeting on 1-4 February 2005. A concrete proposal is expected at the May 2005 Conference to the Parties to the Convention.

The UNECE is one of five regional commissions of the UN created by ECOSOC in 1947 to encourage greater economic cooperation among its member states. The Aarhus Convention seeks to strengthen the role of members of the public and environmental organisations in protecting and improving the environment for the benefit of future generations.

For more information see http://www.unece.org/env/pp/gmo.htm. For a more detailed account, see http://www.ciel.org/Tae/Aarhus_GMOs_Oct04.html.

ICTSD reporting; "Gaps in the Public Participation requirements of the EU Directive on GMOs as compared with the Aarhus Convention: A comparative analysis." EUROPEAN ECO-FORUM ANALYSIS, January 2004.

IMPLICATIONS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

A working paper by Kym Anderson and Lee Ann Jackson released by the World Bank Group in September concludes that there is a large potential for economic gains from using genetically modified (GM) crop technology in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The gains stem mostly from nutritionally enhanced GM wheat, according to the report. The estimated benefits are diminished only slightly by the EU's current import regime for GM foods. A ban on GM crop imports in SSA countries, in deference to EU market demand for non-GM products, would result in losses to domestic consumers from protectionism that would exceed the small economic gain for domestic farmers that would gain access to the EU. The authors used the global economy-wide computable general equilibrium model known as GTAP for the study. Anderson and Jackson conclude that African countries need to assess whether they share the food safety and environmental concerns of Europeans regarding GM organisms. Otherwise, the authors note, they have much to gain from adopting GM crop varieties -- especially second generation ones, such as golden rice, which has been genetically engineered to contain a higher level of vitamin A.

The full paper is available at http://econ.worldbank.org/files/38750_wps3411.pdf

"Implications of GMF Tech for Sub-Saharan Africa," CROPBIOTECH UPDATE, 19 November 2004.