In Brief

INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES REACH LANDMARK POTATO AGREEMENT

Six indigenous communities from Peru reached a groundbreaking agreement with the Lima-based International Potato Center (IPC) that recognises the communities' rights over the native potato strains and associated traditional knowledge. This "is a first legal sign of the restoration of rights that indigenous people once had," said Alejandro Argumedo from the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDES) which helped to broker the deal. He pointed to the importance of potatoes as a food source and a cultural symbol in Peru which has the highest diversity for potato genetic resources in the world. The agreement requires signatories to ensure that the genetic resources and knowledge should remain in the custody of the communities and "do not become subject to intellectual property rights in any form". "These indigenous people are against patents," Argumedo stressed, adding that patents "represent a model of property that does not fit into their worldview" which is based on exchanging and sharing information openly. The IPC is one of 16 Future Harvest Centres around the world that aim to work towards increasing food security, reducing poverty, and protecting the environment in the developing countries.

"Potato Capital of the world offers up new recipe," IPS, 18 January 2005.

EU CONSIDERS TIMBER CERTIFICATION SCHEME

At the 22 December Council of agriculture ministers, EU members debated a European Commission draft regulation that would create a voluntary certification scheme for timber imports into the EU. Proposed under the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) adopted by the European Commission in May 2003 (see BRIDGES Weekly, 23 May 2003) and augmented by a set of measures adopted in July 2004 (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 23 July 2004), the plan would allow countries to sign up for voluntary partnerships with the EU through which its legal imports into the EU would be accompanied by paperwork showing the timber comes from approved forests. After the bilateral agreement has been signed, the EU would refuse timber imports from that state unless they had been certified as legal. The plan -- which the EU notes would be WTO-compliant because the partnerships are voluntary -- would seek to stop illegal logging and associated trade in illegal timber which the EU says are associated with environmental damage, corruption, bad governance and losses in government revenue in developing countries.

ICTSD reporting; " EU Divided on Plans to Curb Illegal Timber Trade," REUTERS, 22 December 2004; " Outcome of Agriculture/Fisheries Council of December 2004," EU MEMO MEMO/04/304, 22 December 2004; "Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) - Commission acts to combat illegal logging," EU Press Release IP/04/980, 20 July 2004.

INDIAN PATENT ACT REVISIONS RAISE FARMERS' CONCERNS

A decree issued by the Indian government to bring the country into compliance with its obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has raised concerns that it could take control of seeds away from farmers and put access to life-saving drugs for diseases such as AIDS out of the reach of poor people and. The 26 December Ordinance was issued by the Indian government to meet the 1 January 2005 deadline for TRIPS compliance in the drugs, pharmaceuticals, agro-chemicals, food and biotechnology sectors that had been left out of two earlier amendments to India's 1970 Patent Law. Among others, concerns were raised that the new amendment has not categorically excluded seeds developed by novel means and has introduced ambiguity regarding what micro-organisms and microbiological processes, including biotechnological products and processes, could be patentable. This led to concerns and mobilisation from farmers across the country who said that the ordinance could restrict their ability to save seeds and oblige them to pay royalties to seed companies. Under Indian law, the ordinance will lapse if lawmakers do not approve it within six months. Legislators will consider the bill during the budget session of Parliament that begins in February.

For more information, including the medicine-related aspects of the new bill, see BRIDGES Weekly, 9 January 2005.

ICTSD Reporting; "India: Major Amendments In The Indian Patents Law," LEX ORBIS, 12 January 2005; "Farmers oppose patent ordinance," FINANCIAL EXPRESS, 11 January 2005; "New amendments to Patents Act, 1970 to affect farm sector," FINANCIAL EXPRESS, 3 January 2005.

ISAAA REPORT: BIOTECH CROPS UP BY 20 PERCENT

The global area of biotech crops continued to grow for the ninth consecutive year in 2004 with a yearly growth rate of 20 percent compared with 15 percent in 2003, according to the annual report of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) released on 12 January. The estimated global area of approved biotech crops for 2004 was 81.0 million hectares, equivalent to 200 million acres, up from 67.7 million hectares or 167 million acres in 2003, with more than one third (34 percent) of that area grown in developing countries. Biotech crops were grown by approximately 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries, namely the US, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, China, Paraguay, India, South Africa, Uruguay, Australia, Romania, Mexico, Spain, the Philippines, Colombia, Germany and Honduras. Although Bulgaria and Indonesia did not grow biotech crops in 2004 owing to 'expiry of permits' used to grow such crops in 2003, Paraguay joined the group for the first time in 2004 and already grows two percent of the world's genetically modified crops.

According to the ISAAA report, absolute growth in biotech crop area between 2003 and 2004 was, for the first time, higher for developing countries (7.2 million hectares) than for industrial countries (6.1 million hectares), with the percentage growth almost three times as high (35 percent) in the developing countries, compared with the industrial countries (13 percent). The report notes that the two main biotechnology traits continue to be herbicide tolerance (72 percent) and insect resistance (19 percent) and that soybean, maize, cotton and canola continue to be the four main commercialised crops. The report concludes by predicting the expansion of biotechnology crops in 2005 up to 150 million hectares, with up to 15 million farmers growing crops in up to 30 countries.

"Preview: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2004," ISAAA Brief 32, 12 January 2005.

MILLENNIUM PROJECT CALLS FOR BALANCING TRADING SYSTEM

The UN Millennium Project -- an independent advisory project commissioned by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to propose the best strategies for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) -- has reproached the global trading system for being "unbalanced against the interests of developing countries". The group's final report, entitled "A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals", calls for both expanding market access for low-income countries and providing them with "aid for trade" -- helping them build the infrastructure and supply-side capacity that they need in order to effectively participate in international trade. The report exhorts rich countries to lower barriers to imports, liberalise their agricultural sectors, and ratchet up development aid to 0.54 percent of national income by 2015. The report's authors emphasise the need to help developing countries adjust to the impacts of trade liberalisation, including the erosion of trade preferences. They also describe liberalisation in 'mode 4' of global services trade (temporary movement of people to supply services) as a "major source of gains for developing countries, capable of bringing more benefits to them than perhaps any other part of the Doha Agenda". The group also points the importance of making special & differential treatment more effective and operational. Observers welcomed the report, but stressed the need for countries to muster the necessary political will to put the recommendations into practice.

"Millennium goals," THE INDEPENDENT, 18 January 2005; " Whatever it takes," ECONOMIST, 18 January 2005; "Way exists to slash poverty, but is there the will?," IPS, 17 January 2005; "Rich must keep aid promises, says UN," GUARDIAN, 18 January 2005.

PUBLIC HEARING TACKLES REACH LEGISLATION

Ahead of the first reading of the EU's proposed system of Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) in the European Parliament, some 1000 participants from civil society groups, industry, journalists, Members of the European Parliament (MEP) and the public came together at a public hearing on 19 January to debate the workability of the chemicals legislation. Among others, participants raised issues related to the impacts of REACH on industry competitiveness, the need for equal competition with non-EU countries, compliance with WTO rules, the special concerns of small and medium sized enterprises and the need to minimise animal testing. The hearing also discussed the UK-Hungary proposal to simplify the registration procedure by allowing companies to form consortia to share the cost of registration (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 3 December 2004). It remained unclear, however, whether the proposals would be revised ahead of the first reading in light of recent impact assessments, as called for by some MEPs. As Enterprise and Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen noted, the assessments presented "variations so great that it is scarcely possible to come to conclusions."

"Parliament kicks off debate on chemicals," EURACTIV, 21 January 2005.