In Brief

DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE MISCONCEPTUALISES FISH TRADE, IUCN SAYS

The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization and IUCN-The World Conservation Organization on 8 December sent a letter to the creator of "Darwin's Nightmare" -- a documentary by Hubert Sauper that has won sixteen awards and is nominated for an Oscar award for its depiction of the trade in the Nile Perch fish from Lake Victoria -- saying that the film is based on a misconceptualised, sensationalist and inaccurate reading of the impact of fisheries exports on the communities around Lake Victoria, Tanzania. The letter suggests that the film is based on anecdotal, insufficiently researched information from people who are not directly involved with all the communities in the area, makes a direct connection between fish exports and poverty, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, homelessness and imports of weapons and fails to provide a balanced view of the impact of fish exports to the EU on local communities that is based on the analysis of Africans active in the area. "We come to no other conclusion," IUCN and the LVFO write, "than that you specifically selected advisors and subjects who allowed you to ignore the positive impacts of the Lake Victoria fisheries, and to lead audiences to believe the false conclusion that the export of fish creates poverty." The focus on the film, they argue, "closes the eyes of Europeans to the many benefits that the Lake Victoria fishery has brought to hundreds of thousands of people, and the progress that has been made in fighting poverty in the region". In so doing, they note, the film perpetuates a stereotypical and sensationalist image that betrays the need to present a balanced view necessary to support the exports on which the people around the lake depend. "Darwin's Nightmare", a documentary film by Hubert Sauper, has won sixteen awards in the last year for its depiction of the trade in the Nile Perch fish from Lake Victoria.

To access the letter, visit http://www.iucn.org/en/news/archive/2005/12/Sauperletter.pdf

The website of the film is http://www.darwinsnightmare.com/

ICTSD Reporting.

EU REQUESTS DISPUTE PANEL ON BRAZILIAN RETREADED TYRE BAN

During a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on 28 November 2005, the EU asked for the establishment of a WTO panel to determine whether a Brazilian import ban on retreaded tyres breaks WTO law. Brazil argues that the ban can be justified on environmental and human health grounds (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 8 July 2005). They point to the adverse affects of used tyres, including their slow decomposition rates, fire risks, contribution to the spread of viral diseases, contamination of air, water and soil when incinerated in tyre fires, high waste processing costs and their hazardous pollutant content. An investigation initiated by the EC on 7 January 2004 had found, after extensive examination of the Brazilian records, that the measures were not being applied equitably to all WTO Members -- for example, it says that the import ban does not extend to MERCOSUR countries -- and in some cases are applied to retreaded tyres that are not used and therefore are not linked to environmental and health risks. As a result, the EC on 20 June 2005 had requested consultations on the issue through the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism, arguing that the measure contravenes WTO rules on national treatment (under which a WTO Member must treat products produced in other WTO Members' territories the same as those produced domestically), most-favoured-nation treatment (where the products from all WTO Members must be treated similarly) and quantitative restrictions (under which quantitative restrictions are restricted and cannot be applied differently to different Members) (WT/DS332/1). After consultations in July failed to resolve the issue, the EU decided to request that a dispute panel be created at the DSB meeting (WT/DS332/1), but Brazil blocked its establishment. According to Dispute Settlement Understanding procedures, Brazil can not block the establishment of a panel at the next meeting of the DSB, which is scheduled for 20 January 2006.

ICTSD reporting; "European Communities' request for the establishment of a WTO Panel against Brazilian measures affecting imports of retreaded tyres - Factsheet", BRAZILIAN PRESS RELEASE, 25 November 2005; "Brazil - Trade Barriers Complaint against Import Ban on Retreaded Tyres, Continuation of WTO Dispute" European Commission, 15 November 2005.

GABON AND COMOROS SIGN NEW FISHERIES AGREEMENTS WITH EU

Comoros and Gabon signed new fisheries partnership agreements with the EU on 1 and 3 December respectively that will last for six years and aim to promote sustainable fisheries and policy cooperation under the EU Common Fisheries Policy. While the Comoros deal decreases the number of foreign vessels allowed to fish by 12 percent, the Gabon accord reduces the number of licences to fish by 40 percent. The EU fishing industry's financial participation in the Gabon agreement also increased as license fees paid by EU vessel owners has increased by almost 50 percent since the last agreement, from EUR 25 to EUR 35 per tonne of tuna caught, whilst the European Union's contribution has decreased correspondingly from EUR 75 to EUR 65, reflecting decreasing subsidisation of access. Gabon, signatory of the Community's most important Atlantic tuna agreement in terms of catch volume, will thus receive EUR 860,000 per year from the EU instead of EUR 1,262,500 under the previous agreement. In both agreements, 60 percent of the financial contribution is earmarked for defining and implementing national fisheries policies that can include support for scientific research, surveillance of fisheries activities as well as food security and poverty reduction. Moreover, both pacts have requirements for EU vessels to comply with measures and recommendations by regional management organisations, such as the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and the inclusion of concrete control and monitoring measures. They also allow for regional observers to be present on EU vessels.

Some observers have criticised the agreements for not setting total catch quotas. Thus, although the number of fishing licenses and boats has been reduced, the use of large-scale, modernised vessels might lead to the same amount of tuna being caught as before. Furthermore, some fear that the fact that the level of financial contribution is still directly linked to the allowable volume of fish catches continues to exert financial pressure on ACP countries to give EU boats unsustainable levels of access to their resources.

ICTSD Reporting; "Comoros, EU sign fisheries agreement", AFROL NEWS, 1 December; "EU, Gabon sign new fisheries agreement", EU PRESS RELEASE, 1 December 2005; "New EU-Comoros fisheries agreement signed", EU PRESS RELEASE, 29 November 2005; "Brussels: New fisheries partnership agreement and protocol between the EU and the Comoros", FISH UPDATE, 1 December 2005; "EU Comoros fisheries partnership agreement", AGRITRADE, June 2005.

EC APPROVES DANISH TAX ON GM CROPS FOR CO-EXISTENCE

The European Commission on 23 November authorised a Danish law that requires farmers growing GM crops to pay an annual tax of 13.4 Euros (US$15.84) per hectare of land into a fund to compensate conventional and organic farmers whose crops are contaminated by genetically modified (GM) crops. The Commission's authorisation will allow Denmark to enforce its co-existence law, under which the funds will be used to pay compensation to conventional or organic farmers whose crops have more than 0.9 percent of GM material as a result of gene flow from neighbouring farmers' GM fields. The amount of the compensation will be limited to the price difference between a crop for which no labelling is required and the market price of the crop that will have to be labelled as containing GM material because its GM content exceeds the threshold for labelling established by the EU. In a statement released the same day, the Commission said that it "finds that such aid contributes to a successful co-existence of GM crops with conventional and organic crops" given that private insurance products for liability for cross-contamination or "admixture" of GM and non-GM crops is not on the market. However, the compensation will not free GM farmers from civil or criminal liability under Danish law.

The EU does not currently have a GM-specific co-existence and liability schemes, although they are currently working on such rules (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 10 March 2003). This has raised the ire of critics who say that responsibility for any financial losses as a result of the transfer of GMOs to conventional and organic fields, as well as potential environmental or health damages, must be clarified. Similar questions have also arisen regarding transboudary transfers of GM crops, most notably in negotiations on liability and redress in the context of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 27 May 2005). Negotiations have been held up by disagreements between the Europeans, who would with the support of Africa like a broad liability regime, and the US, who would prefer to focus on national liability regimes and analyse liability on a case-by case basis.

"Commission authorises Danish state aid to compensate for losses due to presence of GMOs in conventional and organic crops," EC PRESS RELEASE, 23 November 2005; "Denmark may compensate for GMO contamination -EU," REUTERS, 23 November 2005, "European Commission Rules Danish Tax On Genetically Modified Crops Permitted," WTO Reporter, 28 November 2005.

COUNTRIES STRIKE ELEVENTH HOUR DEAL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

At the first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP-1) on 28 November to 9 December in Montreal, Canada, governments reached what environmental groups called "a historic agreement" on how to tackle climate change in the future. After working through Friday night, delegates adopted the "Montreal Action Plan" which commits industrialised countries to deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, to be agreed by 2012 when the current agreement expires. While the details remain to be hammered out, the agreement was seen as giving new credibility to the Kyoto process. "This is a clear signal that the Kyoto agreement is alive and well," said Friends of the Earth International Climate Change Campaigner Catherine Pearce.

Parties also approved a series of decisions aimed at simplifying the implementation of the global pact, which was adopted in 1997 but only came into force this year. These include the establishment of a Joint Implementation Supervisory Board, a mechanism that allows industrialised countries to earn carbon allowances by investing in low-emission projects in other developed countries they can count against their own reduction commitments. Delegates also finalised details of the Clean Development Mechanism, a system that similarly rewards them for investing in sustainable development projects in developing countries.

ICTSD reporting: "Conference reaches climate deal," TORONTO STAR, 20 December 2005; "Kyoto Protocol extended," GLOBE AND MAIL, 10 December 2005; "Kyoto thrives in Montreal despite last minute game of Russian roulette," FOEI, 10 December 2005; "Developing countries: pay us to save rainforests," MONGABAY.COM, 27 November 2005; "Montreal climate conference adopts 'rule book' of the Kyoto Protocol," UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, 30 November 2005; "U.N. talks adopt Kyoto rules on global warming," REUTERS, 30 November 2005; "Australia says 'son of Kyoto' deal not possible," REUTERS, 1 December 2005.

CHINA DELAYS GM RICE APPROVAL

China's Agricultural genetically modified organism (GMO) Biosafety Committee was unable to reach consensus on 24 November whether to commercialise Xa21, a rice strain genetically modified to be resistant to disease. The three-day bi-annual meeting of the national body decided to ask the scientists from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who developed the variety to provide more data to prove the safety of the GM rice, which includes a gene from an African wild rice. Chinese consumers and civil society have become increasingly vocal about environmental and health concerns related to GM crops after Greenpeace discovered GM rice on supermarket shelves in Hubei, a central province in China, in May of this year. In response to public comments, the Chinese government has added more food and environmental safety experts to the committee, which is likely to make a decision on the commercialisation of the crop more difficult and lengthen the approval and regulation process (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 20 December 2004). Nonetheless, in commentaries on the meeting, leading Chinese newspapers called on the government to introduce more transparency into the GM decision-making process. To date, only Iran has commercialised a GM rice variety modified to be resistant to the stem-borer pest.

"China committee not recommending GMO rice," REUTERS, 28 November 2005; "Public must have say in GM rice debate," CHINA DAILY, 23 November 2005; "Iran Releases World's First Bt Rice," MANILA BULLETIN, 26 November 2005.