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biodiversity | biopiracy


Free or even fair?
As the 4th round of Thailand-US free-trade negotiations start today in Montana, a key issue will be the shape of any future intellectual-property regime. The survival of Thai jasmine rice, and the people who grow it, may very well depend on whatever system is finally agreed upon.
Patenting rice: A matter of serious royal concern
The prospect of including in many FTAs, especially the Thai-US one, issues like intellectual property and agriculture, could have implications on the survival or disappearance of the Thai rice culture
AU’s Ministerial Declaration on EPA negotiations
EPAs should serve as instruments for development and poverty reduction. They must also support the deepening of intra-African trade.
Are corporations hog-tying conservation groups in CAFTA fight?
Missing from the fight against CAFTA is an elite subset of the environmental movement: the international biodiversity conservation organizations. Not one of the four major groups in this field — Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and the Wildlife Conservation Society — has demonstrated the courage to oppose CAFTA, despite ample opportunity over the past year.
BIMSTEC meet on June 1: Six priority sectors to be discussed
A BIMSTEC Free Trade Area agreement was signed in last February. The agreement covers trade in goods, services and investment. Negotiations are progressing well on specific issues. The Agreement would come into force from July 2006.
Andean nations, US advance on environmental issue in FTA talks
The Andean countries and the US have advanced on the environmental issue in their talks about a free trade agreement (FTA), Peru’s chief negotiator said on Wednesday. "The United States proposed for the first time a text on biological diversity. The issue has been made an item in the article on Environmental Cooperation."
Calls for more flexible US position in free trade talks
During the ninth round of negotiations of a free trade agreement between the United States and three South American nations in the Andean region — Colombia, Peru and Ecuador — Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo called for ”greater flexibility” on the part of Washington.
Silence on Thai-US FTA broken: 1,500 people said NO to FTA!
It took over a thousand and five hundred people blowing their whistle for the Thai government to come out and listen to its people. But did Mr. Nitya Pibulsongkram, head of the Thai negotiating team for the Thai-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), actually hear them?
Open letter from civil society on the US-Thailand FTA negotiations
On 4-8 April 2005, negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Thai and the US will take place in Pattaya. Following two previous rounds in Hawaii, the US is expected to submit demands on remaining issues, the most important of which is the issue of patents. This is a sign-on statement to call on the Thai government to halt the third round of negotiations in order to conduct a through review of the outstanding points and the negotiating position towards the FTA.
Corporate conquest, global geopolitics: Intellectual property rights and bilateral investment treaties
Examines how bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements which contain specific investment provisions reflect geopolitical concerns and redefine rights and privileges for transnational corporations, including with respect to commercial control over biodiversity through intellectual property rights.
Letter to reject environment chapter of CAFTA (Eng/Esp)
We are enclosing a letter in English and Spanish proposed by different Central American and USA organizations to be delivered in our respective Congresses. We are protesting the contents and consecuences that the US-DR-CAFTA will bring in general to the society and the environment, but especially in this case Chapter No. 17 related to environment.
How much is the biodiversity of the Andes worth?
Washington’s refusal to recognise the right of Andean countries to demand compensation for the commercial use of their biological resources is standing in the way of negotiations for free trade between the United States, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
FTA: Facing The Apocalypse?
The graffiti on the walls in Quito ask if the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that the US is pushing on Colombia, Peru and Ecuador means that our days are numbered.
Andean nations clash with US on patenting life forms
Access to genetic resources in South America’s Andean region, which holds a quarter of the planet’s biodiversity, is a point of discord in the free trade agreement that the United States has been negotiating with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru since May.
Central America is Not for Sale
A call for organizational sign-ons from the Central America is Not For Sale Coalition
Farm tariffs, IPRs seen as main obstacles to US-Andean FTA
Tariffs on agricultural products and definitions of intellectual property rights, particularly for pharmaceuticals, are shaping up as the most contentious issues in the free trade negotiations between the United States and three Andean nations, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Andean Nations Bet on Bio-Trade
"One of the key aspects of the free trade agreement that the United States is negotiating with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru refers to access to the biological wealth of the three South American nations."
Bilateral investment agreements: Agents of new global standards for the protection of IPRs?
Developing countries have entered into a large number of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as well as free trade agreements (FTAs) that include explicit obligations for the protection of intellectual property rights as "investments".
BIMSTEC Summit Declaration
Following is the text of the declaration issued at the conclusion of the first BIMSTEC summit here Saturday
Peru: Legislation to protect biodiversity restricts patents
The Peruvian Congress has passed legislation to protect the country’s biodiversity by restricting patents on biological resources.