CTE Looks At Approaches To Environmental Goods Liberalisation	WTO Members remain divided on how to define 'environmental goods' earmarked for liberalisation under Paragraph 31 (iii) of the Doha Declaration. Discussions in the CTE Special (negotiating) Session (CTE-SS) on 14 October once again looked at two proposed approaches for defining such goods, namely the multilateral identification of a list of environmental goods and India's project approach, which would temporarily liberalise trade in environmental goods for use in environmental projects (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 24 June 2005, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/05-06-24/story1.htm). Some delegates suggested that Members were unlikely to reach consensus on which approach to use in time for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December. more
WTO Fisheries Talks Address Infrastructure Subsidies	During negotiations on fisheries subsidies in the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules on 26 October, Members discussed subsidies to infrastructure based on a paper submitted by New Zealand which highlighted the need to include subsidies to fisheries infrastructure as a category into the disciplines (TN/RL/GEN/70). Motivated by statistics which indicate that such subsidies account for over 40 percent of industrialised countries' global financial transfers related to fisheries, discussions were polarised between Members that supported the general thrust of the submission and those that were reluctant to make a distinction between general infrastructure subsidies and those related specifically to fisheries. more
US And India Clash On Disclosure At TRIPS Meeting	At the WTO Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 25-26 and 28 October, discussions on disclosure of the source of biological materials and related traditional knowledge in patent applications once again saw countries clash on whether such a patent-based system was indeed necessary to ensure the equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources. In the morning of 26 October, in discussions on examining the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) mandated by paragraph 19 of the Doha Declaration, India introduced a paper which responds to the most recent US paper that advocated a contract-based approach to disclosure. In the afternoon in separate informal consultations mandated by paragraph 12 of the Doha Declaration on implementation issues relating to the TRIPS-CBD relationship, India put forward draft text for the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration calling for negotiations specifically on disclosure requirements under the Doha Round's "single undertaking". more

In Brief

EU Agrees To Timber Licensing Scheme WTO Members propose enhanced liberalisation of forest and fish sectors South Africa Considers Amendments To Biotech Laws Cultural Expressions Convention Adopted Despite US Opposition CBD Expert Panel On Liability And Redress Makes Progress Organic Movement Promotes Its Role In Biodiversity Conservation Civil Society Groups Shine Light On Chinese Role In Illegal Logging

Events    &   Resources
Events	28-29 October, Hamburg, Germany: CLIMATE OR DEVELOPMENT? This conference organised by the Hamburg Institute of International Economics addresses issues revolving around linkages between climate policy and poverty reduction. For further information contact Heike Kern, tel: (+49 40) 42834 337; fax: 42834 451; email: heike.kern@hwwa.de; Internet: http://www.hwwa.de/Forschung/Klimapolitik/docs/2005/Events/28-10-2005_programme.pdf
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Resources	IS THE WTO IS THE ONLY WAY? SAFEGUARDING MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS FROM INTERNATIONAL TRADE RULES AND SETTLING TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT DISPUTES OUTSIDE THE WTO. By Adelphi Consult, Friends of the Earth Europe and Greenpeace, October 2005. This report aims at initiating a debate within governments and inter-governmental organisations on alternatives to the WTO for clarifying the legal relationship between global trade rules and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), and settling trade and environment disputes. It shows that there are effective and viable ways to safeguard environmental agreements from trade rules outside the WTO, notably through the International Court of Justice and the United Nations. To access this paper visit http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/2005/alternatives_wto.pdf
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BRIDGES Trade BioRes is made possible in 2005 through the generous support of the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (BUWAL) and the State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment of The Netherlands (VROM). It also benefits from ICTSD's core funders: the Governments of Finland (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Denmark (DANIDA - Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Netherlands (DGIS - Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Sweden (SIDA - Swedish International Development Agency), Switzerland (SDC - Swiss Development Cooperation) and the UK (DFID - Department of International Development); Christian Aid (UK), the Rockefeller Foundation, MISEREOR, NOVIB (NL), Oxfam (UK), and the Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations (Switzerland). ISSN 1682-0843