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19 april 2002
friends of the earth international
welcomes forest action plan
forest action plan could be major step
forward
Friends of the Earth International
welcomed today's adoption of an
action-oriented work programme on forests by
the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the
Biodiversity Convention. The work plan was
adopted after 62 hours of difficult
negotiations as countries like Canada, Brazil
and Malaysia tried to water down the draft
work programme recommended by the
Convention's scientific body.
"Despite the fact that these countries
blocked attempts to insert clear targets in
the action plan, it is a crucial step forward
in international forest policy", said Maria
José Lopez, co-coordinator of the FoEI forest
programme. "It provides valuable guidance to
countries on how to effectively implement the
legally binding commitment of the
Biodiversity Convention to conserve and
equitably share forest biodiversity and it
addresses the real causes of forest loss,
such as overconsumption, lack of respect for
Indigenous Peoples' land rights and
corruption. Now the challenge is to ensure
the political will and financial resources
are being made available to implement this
work plan. The World Summit on Sustainable
Development should give clear support to
this", said Lopez, who is from Paraguay - one
of the countries facing devastating rates of
deforestation.
corporations get away with biopiracy
Nonetheless, FoEI deplored that the
Biodiversity Summit had not taken more firm
steps to prevent biopiracy. Biopiracy is a
practice through which large biotechnology
companies rob Indigenous Peoples and local
communities in developing countries from
their knowledge and genetic resources by
unauthorized use of these genes for
biotechnological research and the subsequent
patenting of the products of this research.
These patents increasingly prohibit local
communities and Indigenous Peoples from using
their own seeds and other genetic resources.
While the voluntary guidelines on access to
genetic resources that were adopted by the
conference recognize the need to prevent
biopiracy practices, the Parties failed to
agree on the need for legally binding
measures. "This is a typical example where
firm regulation of business practices is
necessary to protect the rights and interests
of local communities and Indigenous Peoples,"
said Simone Lovera, FoEI's biodiversity
project coordinator. FoEI has called for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development to
adopt a legally binding framework on
corporate accountability.
Meanwhile, FoEI is alerting governments that
negotiations within the World Trade
Organization are increasingly undermining
Biodiversity Convention negotiations on these
and other matters. "The current trade
negotiations related to agriculture, forest
products, intellectual property rights and
biosafety form a major threat for the
effective implementation of the Convention,"
said Lovera. "The upcoming World Summit on
Sustainable Development should ensure that
environmental agreements like the
Biodiversity Treaty are fully respected by
trade negotiators."
contact information:
Simone Lovera,
coordinator biodiversity project
Tel: +31-6-10897827
Maria José Lopez,
co-coordinator forest programme
Tel: +595-21480182
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