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environment

Int’l group urges Senate to reject RP-Japan trade pact
31-Oct-2006 INQ7.net
Saying Japan’s motives were "highly suspect," an international monitoring group urged the Philippine Senate on Tuesday to reject a controversial economic deal with Japan unless toxic wastes were removed from the list of products that could be brought into the Philippines.
Bilateral biosafety bullies
30-Oct-2006 GRAIN
This new briefing from GRAIN and the African Centre for Biosafety looks at how governments, the agribusiness sector and transnational companies are increasingly using bilateral trade agreements to prise open markets for genetically modified crops.
JPEPA to encourage trade in hazardous and toxic waste
26-Oct-2006 Inside PCIJ
A summary of the current debate over the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement by the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism.
DENR opposed waste dumping in trade deal but gave in to DTI
26-Oct-2006 PDI
The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) tried but failed to stop the government from including toxic and hazardous wastes from the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), yielding to pressure.
Senate indignant, CBCP sad over ‘toxic’ accord
26-Oct-2006 PDI
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, yesterday said he was saddened by the agreement that environmentalists fear would turn the Philippines into Japan’s dump for toxic wastes. Indignation was also voiced in the Senate and calls were made for an investigation of the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
RP-Japan accord ‘toxic’
25-Oct-2006 PDI
A new dump for toxic waste may soon open for Japan — and it has 7,100 islands. This is how concerned environmentalists see the likely effect of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed on Sept. 9 in Helsinki on the side of the Asia-Europe Meeting.
Bush free trade plan puts Amazon up for grabs
13-Oct-2006 Bush Greenwatch
The Bush administration is quietly pressing for a free trade agreement with Peru that will put the Amazon rainforest - often described as one of the earth’s lungs - on the chopping block.
Environmental Implications of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement
30-Sep-2006 jemy gatdula
Last September 9, 2006 in Finland, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Japanese Prime Minister Junihiro Koizumi signed the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), a bilateral preferential trade treaty between Japan and the Philippines that seeks to remove barriers to investments and the trade of goods and services between the two countries.
Smelters return home from Lanka
21-Sep-2006
A majority of Indian secondary copper smelters based in Sri Lanka are winding up their operations in that country because of economic problem as well as threat perception over local environmental issues.
Asean-Australia-NZ FTA may be concluded in 2007
25-Aug-2006
The Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks could be concluded in 2007, despite some wrangling over issues like government procurements and environment.
Labour & environmental issues in FTA talk, says NZ
20-Aug-2006 Bernama
Labour and environmental issues will still be included in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation between Australia, New Zealand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a senior New Zealand trade official said.
Making free trade fair
15-Aug-2006
Ukrit Kungsawanich, a fruit grower in Rayong, was worried when he read in the news that a US company is trying to patent a drink made with mangosteen extract.
MERCOSUR: Uruguay sues Argentina
10-Aug-2006
The Southern Common Market Claims Court is hearing Uruguay’s case against Argentina due to road blocks by Argentinean citizens on international routes.
Flower power - But not for the workers
8-Aug-2006 IPS
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and the United States that could be signed in October or November this year will maintain the tariff exemptions already enjoyed by Colombia’s flourishing flower industry. But there are no plans for higher wages and better working conditions for the industry’s 100,000 workers.
Costa Rican Greens slam US-FTA
2-Aug-2006 Prensa Latina
Some 60 Costa Rican ecologist organizations protested Monday against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Central America and the United States, due to its risk for the environment.
Michaud leads fight against Oman free trade agreement
19-Jul-2006 Magic City Morning Star
"It is bad enough that we are asked to support agreements that will ship more jobs overseas, that undermine our environmental standards, and that ask us to stick our head in the sand over serious human rights violations - but it is simply unacceptable to ask this Congress to support legislation that could potentially undermine the security of our nation," said US Congressman Mike Michaud.
UN court allows Uruguay pulp mill project
14-Jul-2006 New Zealand Herald
The United Nations’ highest court has ruled that Uruguay does not have to suspend building two giant pulp mills that neighbouring Argentina says will harm the environment.
S Korea FTA can weather Democrats in Congress
21-Jun-2006
South Korea has internationally recognized labor and environmental standards that would ease opposition by US Democrats who traditionally don’t favour trade agreements with foreign countries, a South Korean asserted this week.
America’s free trade pacts driving illegal timber trade
16-Jun-2006 Antara News
US free trade agreements are accelerating the destruction of tropical forests in Asia and Latin America, according to a report released today by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
SC has no jurisdiction over treaties, says Sol-Gen
25-May-2006 PDI
The Supreme Court of the Philippines has no jurisdiction to issue a ruling on a petition filed by party-list group Akbayan seeking to stop the government from signing a bilateral trade pact with Japan without a full disclosure of its provisions to the public.