In Brief

HONG KONG MINISTERIAL ADOPTS DECLARATION, TALKS TO CONTINUE

WTO Members meeting for the Sixth Ministerial Conference on 13-18 December in Hong Kong were able to agree on a Ministerial Declaration that, while making some marginal progress, was in line with the low expectations for the Conference. In the Declaration, WTO Members agreed, among other things, to eliminate agricultural export subsidies by 2013 and provide duty- and quota-free market access to 97 percent of products originating from least-developed countries by 2008 (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 9 December 2005). While Members expressed relief and satisfaction that Ministers attending the meeting were able to agree on a Declaration, thereby avoiding the collapse of the meeting and negotiations in general similar to the last Ministerial Conference in Cancun in 2003 (see Bridges Daily, 15 September 2003), sources suggested that the failure to decide upon significant, commercially valuable changes to trade rules would challenge the ability of negotiators to reach agreement on the Doha round by the end of the year as mandated in the Declaration.

Although the EU's agreement to eliminate agricultural export subsidies by 2013 was widely cited as a key achievement of the meeting by the mainstream press, some Members noted the relatively small commercial significance of these subsidies, and that such subsidies have already been scheduled to be phased out by that time under the EU's 2003 reform of its agricultural sector. In addition, sceptics noted that the agreement on duty- and quota-free market access for LDC exports could be of limited developmental and commercial value, given that the EU already grants such access and that the US could use the three percent exemption to maintain barriers on the main products of export interest to LDCs, such as textiles. Although Members were able to agree on a few other issues -- including to let developing countries choose themselves, using a set of indicators, which agricultural products ("special products") to designate for stronger protection -- they were as expected unable to agree on crucial make-or-break issues in the talks, such as the formula for tariff reduction under non-agricultural market access (NAMA) or reducing domestic support for agriculture.

The Declaration sets an April 2006 deadline for finalising 'modalities' in the agriculture and NAMA negotiations, i.e. general parameters to guide the development of specific numbers and formula structures for cutting subsidies and tariffs (see Bridges Weekly, 18 January 2006). Some trade sources have speculated that this deadline may be unrealistic since countries are unlikely to shift their positions fundamentally enough to achieve the needed progress in just four months.

For more analysis, see Bridges Daily, 19 December 2005, http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/hongkong/wto_daily/19_December/en051219.htm

The Ministerial Declaration is available at http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min05_e/final_text_e.htm

ICTSD Reporting.

CITES STOPS TRADE IN WILD CAVIAR TO SAVE STURGEON

Legal trade in wild sturgeon caviar between the Parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was suspended on 3 January owing to concerns over the impact of trade in the species on its survival. The CITES Secretariat's decision to stop issuing the certificates required by the agreement for trade to take place came in response to concerns that the caviar export quotas proposed by sturgeon-producing states were too high given low levels of fish stocks and the fact that the proposed quotas did not take into account the magnitude of illegal fishing. The Secretariat noted that the caviar exporters had failed to prove that illegal harvesting and trade was not adversely affecting the species. In addition, the exporters had not provided satisfactory information about the effectiveness of management and the sustainability of their sturgeon catch based on scientific surveys and a regional conservation strategy. While countries sharing sturgeon stocks agree amongst themselves on catch and export quotas, the quotas subsequently have to be approved and published by the CITES Secretariat.

In 1998, the 169 CITES member states decided to place all sturgeon species on Appendix II of the Convention, which includes species that Parties have agreed to subject to trade controls in order to ensure their survival. In deciding to not issue any certificates for 2006 for all beluga sturgeon, including Black Sea and Caspian varieties, the Secretariat thereby effectively shut down all legal trade amongst Parties to the Convention. It also called on importing countries to ensure that border officials require proper CITES registration and labelling to ensure that imports are from legal sources. Although the Secretariat has in the past decided not to grant certificates to authorise caviar trade from certain regions because of the lack of conservation information, this is the first time it has decided not to grant certificates for any sturgeon caviar worldwide (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 10 September 2004).

"Ban on trade in wild caviar as sturgeon stocks plunge", The Guardian, 4 January 2006; "Caviar trade shut down to save sturgeon", New York Times, 4 January 2006; "International caviar trade suspended", WWF International, 3 January 2006; "No Legal Caviar Exports This Year" ENS, 5 January 2006; "Caviar Smugglers Seen Foiling 2006 Export Rules", Reuters News Service, 29 December 2005; "Caviar Exporters Urged to Strengthen Controls and Promote Sustainable Fishing", UNEP Press Release, 3 January 2006; "UN Moves to Block 2006 Caspian Sea Caviar Exports", Reuters News Service, 4 January 2006.

GREENPEACE: WTO "CHILLS" MEASURES TO CONSERVE FORESTS

Plans to liberalise trade in forest products as part of WTO non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations need to be abandoned, Greenpeace demanded in a new report released on 11 December. "Trading Away Our Last Ancient Forests: The Threats to Forests from Trade Liberalisation Under the WTO", a 2005 update to a 2001 paper, concludes that WTO rules on Technical Barriers to Trade, and ongoing negotiations on non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs) as part of the NAMA negotiations, have a "chilling" effect that discourages governments and private actors from taking actions to conserve ancient forests. Trade bans on illegally logged timber and wood products, independent timber certification schemes, government procurement policies for sustainable timber, import/export bans, labelling requirements and sustainable forest management practices are all affected by fears that such measures could be deemed barriers to trade and WTO incompliant, Greenpeace argues. In addition, the report asserts that tariff reductions or elimination under the NAMA negotiations would make timber cheaper, and could consequently lead to increases in demand that will result in more pressure on forests, with potentially adverse impacts on forest resources. Gaps in governance and unsustainable forest management practices could be exacerbated by this liberalisation, according to the advocacy group, and the imperative to reduce the use of sustainability-supporting measures or 'barriers to trade' could lead to a reduction in controls to prevent illegal trade in forest products.

In related news, a recent WWF report entitled "Failing the Forests: Europe's Illegal Timber Trade" urged the EU to adopt binding measures to prohibit the import of illegally harvested timber and forest products into the region. Forest Industries Intelligence Limited, an independent UK-based consultancy to the international forest products sector, sharply criticised the report. They alleged that the statistics and conclusions in the report fail to acknowledge a lack of agreement on the definition of illegal logging and the paucity of statistics on its extent.

The Greenpeace report is available at http://www.illegal-logging.info/papers/Tradingawayancientforests.pdf

The WWF report is available at http://www.illegal-logging.info/papers/fo_failingforests.pdf

The Forest Industries Intelligence review is available at http://www.illegal-logging.info/papers/wwfailingforestassessment.pdf

MODEST CUTS TO EU FISH QUOTAS ENOUGH TO SAVE COD?

EU ministers on 22 December agreed after relatively smooth talks to cut catch quotas for cod by 15 percent and to reduce the days of fishing at sea by 3 percent in 2006. While the 15 percent decrease in cod quota corresponds to the European Commission's original proposal, reductions in fishing quotas for other species such as haddock and monkfish vary between 5 and 10 percent and are smaller than the proposed quota reduction of 15 percent. For fleets that target these species, cod is an accidental by-catch but they are nevertheless responsible for 60 percent of cod catches. To gain the support of countries with strong fishing interests such as the UK, Spain and France, the Commission also reduced seasonal closures of waters from a proposed 15 per cent cut in days at sea to only 3 percent for cod and other species. While the Commission called the state of cod stocks "truly alarming", pelagic species (i.e. living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters) are in relatively good condition. Therefore, allowances of prawns were increased by more than 30 percent. The 10 percent cut in days spent at sea hunting for Europe's exotic but threatened deepwater fish species, which are particularly vulnerable to overfishing due to their slow reproduction rates, was only half of what the Commission had wanted. In order to win support from Mediterranean countries, Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg also granted a small annual quota of anchovy of 5,000 tonnes in the Bay of Biscay trawling ground, mainly to Spain, in spite of the closure of this depleted area until March 2006.

Scientists have for four years told policy-makers that a blanket ban on cod trawling is needed in areas like the North Sea and western Scottish waters to prevent the species from collapsing following years of over-fishing. However, according to WWF, the 2006 quotas for fish stocks, taking into account significant accidental catches of cod, are even higher on average compared to last year.

"Joe Borg: Council agreement on fishing possibilities for 2006 confirms gradual but sustained approach to stocks recovery," EU PRESS RELEASE, 22 December 2005; "2006 Fish Quotas: Greater Stability Requires Long-term Commitment to rebuilding depleted stocks," EU PRESS RELEASE, 30 November 2005; "EU Strikes Deal on Fish Quotas, Aims to Save Cod," REUTERS, 23 December 2005; "EU Fish quotas are bad news for cod," WWF, 22 December 2005; "EU deal is good compromise, say Ministers," FISHUPDATE.COM, 22 December 2005.

GOVERNMENTS SPEED UP PHASE-OUT OF OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES

During the seventeenth Meeting of the Parties (MOP) of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer held in Dakar from 12-16 December 2005, the 189 Parties reached agreement on a wide range of issues such as the elimination of remaining ozone-depleting substances (ODS) in developed countries, support of continued phase-out in developing countries and illegal trade in ODS. Most observers and participants viewed the conference as a success. Despite an extensive agenda that included many controversial issues, all items were resolved in time, preventing the need to have an extraordinary MOP for the third year in a row. A number of exemptions were made to enable developed countries to continue to produce or use listed ODS for "critical" uses, such as for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) contained in the metered dose inhalers commonly used to treat asthma. However, as the Protocol's disciplines on production, use and trade of listed chemicals begin to come into effect for developing countries, the capacity of the Protocol to provide flexibilities such as exemptions for necessary use in these countries was called into question. Nonetheless, the exemptions agreed amount to some 7,466 tonnes in total -- of which the US alone takes up 6,749 -- and represent a 45 percent decline from the amounts granted the previous year. In addition, Parties to the treaty agreed to a budget of $470 million to be disbursed between 2006 and 2008 to promote the transfer of ozone-friendly technologies and skills.

Other issues addressed in Dakar included the challenge of reducing illegal trafficking in ODS and of how to take into account existing stockpiles. As a first step, Parties decided to conduct a feasibility study on developing a system for tracking the movement of ODS.

For daily updates and a full summary of the meeting, see IISD's Earth Negotiations Bulletin at http://www.iisd.ca/ozone/mop17/

ICTSD reporting; "Brief summary of the MOP-17," UNDP; "Governments Take Forward Fight to Save Ozone Layer," UNEP, 16 December 2005; ENB Vol. 19 No. 47, 19 December 2005; "Developing Countries Funded for Ozone Safe Technology", ENS, 16 December 2005; "Millions for Developing Countries Sought to Extend Ozone Recovery", ENS, 13 December 2005.

EU-CAPE VERDE FISHERIES AGREEMENT SIGNED

The European Commission on 21 December announced the signing of a new five-year fisheries partnership agreement (FPA) between the EU and Cape Verde that will in September 2006 replace the previous agreement that ended last June. Under the agreement, the quantity of fishing access for the European fishing fleet to Cape Verde's tuna stocks will be reduced by 29 percent while the private sector will bear a higher percentage of the financial costs of access. While in the previous agreement the EU had paid 75 Euro and the private-sector European fishing fleet 25 Euro per tonnes of fish taken from Cape Verde's water, under the new agreement the EU will way 65 Euro and the private sector 35 Euro per tonne fished. As the agreement provides for 5,000 tonnes of fishing -- down from the previous agreement's 7,000 tonnes -- the total amount that will be handed over from the EU to Cape Verde on the basis of the quantity of fish taken will be 325,000 Euro, of which 248,000 Euro will be earmarked for the implementation of the country's sustainable fisheries management policy. In addition, the agreement provides for an additional 60,000 Euros to be given to the government of Cape Verde to assist in the implementation of policy. In order to ensure that these funds are used to support the sustainability of fishing in the area, a joint committee will meet annually to determine how these funds are used, for example, to strengthen scientific research and the development of the small-scale fishing fleet.

The agreement also prohibits EU boats from fishing within 12 miles from the shoreline in order to improve protection of local fishermen, and also includes measures to promote of fish landings in Cape Verde harbours. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU pointed to the fact that while EU fishing effort had been reduced, the financial contribution had been reduced even further. The agreed payments would be insufficient to promote sustainable fishing, they added, running counter to the stated aim of the FPAs to transform access agreement from the simple 'buying' of fishing rights into investment in the promotion of sustainable fisheries.

ICTSD Reporting; "The EU and Cape Verde conclude a fisheries partnership agreement," EU PRESS RELEASE, 21 December 2005; "The EU and Cape Verde conclude an FPA," AGRITRADE, December 2005.

SIX NATIONS COUNT ON TECHNOLOGY TO FIX THE CLIMATE

During the inaugural meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate in Sydney on 11 and 12 January, the United States, China, Japan, India, South Korea and Australia launched a multi-million dollar fund to promote clean energy technologies, adopted a charter and established a work plan. The six signatories of the Asia-Pacific Partnership, which was announced in July last year, have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Although the pact was presented as a complement to the Protocol rather than its rival, Australian Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane forecasted that technological solutions under the Partnership would outstrip any Kyoto contributions to address climate change. At the meeting, private/public taskforces were set up to examine the potential for cleaner technology deployment in eight industry sectors, namely cleaner fossil energy, renewable energy, power generation and transmission, steel, aluminium, cement, coal mining and buildings and appliances. The partner countries will work with multilateral development banks on financing for initiatives and programs identified by the task forces. Australia has committed US$ 75 million to the multilateral fund over five years while the US announced that it will request US$ 52 million from its national budget.

While the six-nation group claimed to have agreed on a "ground breaking new model for international climate change and energy collaboration", critics say it offers little apart from 'business as usual'. A report from an Australian government research agency projected that the pact could lead to 23 percent lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 compared to levels projected if no action was taken. However, the environmental group WWF points out that the same report shows that global emissions will in fact increase by 100 per cent by 2050 under the Partnership plan despite these savings. The Partnership is voluntary and non-binding and does not set any targets for GHG reductions.

"Six nations launch 'clean energy' fund to rival Kyoto," EURACTIV, 12 January 2006; "Clean Energy is Life or Death for Planet - Australia," REUTERS, 12 January 2006; "Asia-Pacific pact will only slow GHG emissions growth," Environmental Finance, 12 January 2006; "Asia Pacific partnership focus on voluntary targets slated," EDIE NEWS, 13 January 2006; "Asia-Pacific Partnership Sets New Path on Climate", AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT, 13 January 2006; "US leads six nation pact to develop clean technologies," EDIES NEWS, 29 July 2005; "Asia-Pacific Partnership sets world up for massive global warming," WWF, 12 January 2006.

STATE OF THE WORLD REPORT 2006 PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON CHINA AND INDIA

The impact of China and India as major consumers of resources and polluters of local and global ecosystems form the focus of the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World Report 2005. While the threats stemming from the dramatic economic rise of the two countries to the survival of the planet are laid out in detail, the report also highlights innovative and progressive developments in the two economies such as recent commitments to develop large wind power and solar energy industries, South-South sharing of ideas and the development of independent environmental NGOs in China. Accordingly, the report views this colossal shift in global geopolitics as an opportunity rather than a threat and calls for broader cooperation to develop new energy and agricultural systems between China, India, Europe and the US who together claim 75 percent of the Earth's "biocapacity", i.e. its bioproductive supply of natural resources. Notably, influential Chinese and Indians themselves call for a new path of industrialisation based on technology, low consumption of resources and low environmental pollution. As Sunita Narain of India's Centre for Science and Environment notes in the foreword to the report, "the South - India, China, and all their neighbours - has no choice but to reinvent the development trajectory".

The full report can be accessed at http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/sow/2006/toc/

"State of the World 2006: China and India Hold World in Balance," WORLDWATCH PRESS RELEASE, 11 January 2006.