[Pirateninfo] BRIDGES Trade BioRes

[Martin Sundermann]

BRIDGES Trade BioRes, Vol. 3 No. 6    3 April, 2003

BIODIVERSITY CONVENTION INTEGRATES WSSD OUTCOMES INTO WORK PROGRAMME

Sustainable development-related issues featured strongly at the 17-20 March
Open-ended Inter-Sessional Meeting on the Multi-Year Programme of Work for
the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada. Building on the political momentum
created by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the meeting
focused, inter alia, on the international regime for access and benefit
sharing, legal and socio-economic aspects of technology transfer, and the
CBD's contribution to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Legal nature of benefit-sharing regime remains controversial

Delegates focused most of their attention on the WSSD mandate to negotiate
"within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, bearing in
mind the Bonn Guidelines [on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and
Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising out of their Utilisation], an
international regime to promote and safeguard the fair and equitable sharing
of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources". Among the
more straightforward issues was a decision to broaden the mandate to include
'access' in addition to benefit-sharing, which was adopted without any major
controversy.

Debates on the legal nature of the regime, however, saw similar divisions
among countries, as had been apparent in Johannesburg. Many developing
countries, including Mexico on behalf of the Like-minded Group of
Megadiverse countries, called for a legally binding regime based on the Bonn
Guidelines, arguing that a voluntary regime would not guarantee fair and
equitable benefit-sharing. The US reiterated its view that WSSD had
deliberately left out the term "legally binding" from the Plan of
Implementation, which indicated that the regime would be voluntary. Several
countries, including Canada, Australia and the EU, stressed the need to take
into account related processes in other forums, such as the WTO, WIPO and
FAO, in an effort to ensure coherence and avoid overlap. Canada, supported
by Japan, Norway and Switzerland, called for work on applying and assessing
the implementation of the Bonn Guidelines at the national level before
starting negotiations on the international regime.

In the end, countries instructed the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on
Access and Benefit-sharing at its next meeting on 1-5 December 2003 to
consider the process, nature, scope, elements and modalities of an
international regime and provide advice to COP-7 (19-30 April 2004 in
Malaysia). In support of this work, they invited countries to provide
information on experiences gained when implementing the Bonn Guidelines and,
along with indigenous and local communities and relevant organisations, to
submit their views on process, nature, scope, elements and modalities of a
possible regime.

Strong emphasis on sustainable development in CBD's work

A strong focus on sustainable development-related issues as raised by the
WSSD characterised the decisions adopted at the meeting. This included a
request for the CBD's Executive Secretary to assess the relevance of the
MDGs for the CBD's work and explore how in each programme of work
biodiversity conservation and sustainable use could facilitate the
achievement of the Goals. In addition, the decision on the multi-year
programme of work up to 2010 highlighted the need to consider priorities
identified by the WSSD, including inter alia "poverty alleviation, human
health [and] sustainable communities and livelihoods", in the context of the
CBD's existing programmes. Each COP until 2010 should assess as an explicit
agenda item the state of progress regarding the Convention's 2010 targets
and the MDGs.

On technology transfer -- one of the priority issues at COP-7 -- the meeting
instructed the Executive Secretary to analyse the information contained in
the thematic report on this issue submitted by Parties and provide a report
to the upcoming COP. The meeting furthermore invited WIPO to further explore
and analyse the role of intellectual property rights in technology transfer
in the CBD context. Developed countries were invited to provide the
necessary incentives that would facilitate technology transfer, while
developing countries were asked to create an enabling legal, administrative
and policy environment to facilitate foreign investment and promote
South-South cooperation.

In related developments, the apparent momentum created by the WSSD towards a
greater focus on sustainable development was also apparent in the CBD
Secretariat's decision to change the theme of the International Day of
Biodiversity 2003 (22 May). Rather than focusing on "mountain biodiversity",
the day will now be devoted to focusing on "Biodiversity and poverty
alleviation - challenges for sustainable development".

The meeting documents are available at:
http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.asp?wg=MYPOW-01.

For daily coverage, see IISD Linkages:
http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/biodiv/mypow/.

ICTSD reporting; ENB Vol. 9 No. 256, 24 March 2003.

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Agriculture
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AGRICULTURE MODALITIES: DEADLINE MISSED, EYES NOW ON CANCUN

During a 31 March wrap-up meeting of the WTO Committee on Agriculture (CoA),
Chair Stuart Harbinson formally declared that Members' efforts to agree on
agricultural modalities by the end-March deadline had failed. Nevertheless,
Harbinson said he would continue consultations on technical issues such as
tariff formulas and Strategic Products for developing countries after the
mid-April Easter break, and that further CoA special sessions had been
scheduled for June and July. While Harbinson is hoping to have the
modalities established before the next WTO Ministerial meeting in Cancun
(September), some sources noted that it is more than unlikely that
modalities could be agreed before trade ministers meet in Mexico.

Harbinson made clear that Members would have to work even harder in the
coming period to develop the basis and framework for the necessary
compromises. "To achieve this will require greater appreciation by all sides
of the sensitivities and expectations of others," he added. At a news
conference following the formal plenary session, Harbinson further declared
that the "ball is clearly in Members' court now," as he felt that he had
done all he could in terms of hammering out a draft compromise text for
possible modalities. "I need a clearer signal from Members that they are in
a more receptive mood to have another look at a new piece of paper," he
added.

The US blamed Members such as the EU and Japan for the failure. Hinting at
the internal EU mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
starting in June this year, the statement called on EU member states to
endorse the CAP reform proposals presented last year by EU Agriculture
Commissioner Franz Fischler (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 July 2002,
http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/02-07- 17/story3.htm) so as to "give the
[European] Commission more flexibility to meet the mandate of the 'Doha
Development Round'". Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile also lashed out at
the EU, blaming it for "continuing to oppose efforts to bring about genuine
reform of agricultural trade".

The EU, however, countered that it had done its homework with regard to
moving the WTO agriculture talks. "The EU modalities proposal represents a
middle way between extreme positions," EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz
Fischler said. Fischler also defended the EU's major use of export
subsidies, stating that "bogus food aid," export credits (both mainly used
by the US), and the pricing practices of certain state trading enterprises"
(as in the case of Australia) also would have trade-distorting effects.

ICTSD reporting; "Agriculture: trade diplomats downplay impact of missed
deadline in WTO agriculture negotiations," WTO REPORTER, 1 April 2003;
"Australia blames EU, Japan for missed WTO farm deadline," DOW JONES, 1
April 2003; "WTO farm talks: 'We will plough on', Fischler says," EU PRESS
RELEASE, 31 March 2003; "European Union to challenge Australia's
protectionist food import regime at WTO," EU PRESS RELEASE; 31 March 2003.


2-3 April, Geneva, Switzerland: WTO COMMITTEE ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY
MEASURES. For further information, contact: the WTO Information and Media
Relations Division, Geneva; tel: (41-22) 739- 5007; fax: 739-5458; email:
enquiries at wto.org.

3 April, Oslo, Norway: MEDICINAL PLANTS: ACCESS, USE AND BENEFIT SHARING IN
LIGHT OF THE CBD. Organised by University of Oslo. For more information
contact: Ms. Alida Jay Boye; University of Oslo; tel: (47) 22 85 89 00; fax:
85 89 20; email: alida.boye at sum.uio.no Internet:
http://www.sum.uio.no/bioprospecting/cbd.html

4-6 April, St. Louis, US: BIODIVERSITY, BIOTECHNOLOGY, AND THE PROTECTION OF
TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE.  The event organised by the Washington University
School of Law will gather key individuals and parties to discuss the
protection of biodiversity, the protection and regulation of agricultural
and plant biotechnology, and the international intellectual property
implications of both, with particular attention to the protection of
traditional knowledge and other intellectual property mechanisms of interest
to the developing world.  For information, contact: tel: (314) 935-7988;
fax: 935-7961; email: IGLS at wulaw.wustl.edu; Internet:
http://law.wustl.edu/igls/

TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND
TRIPS AGREEMENT: AN INTERFACE AMONG INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ON
BIOTECHNOLOGY, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, AND BENEFIT SHARING. By Jonathan Curci
Staffler, 2002. This document proposes several approaches for reconciling
the "legal tensions" that exist between the CBD and the TRIPs Agreement.
Available at http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Patents/Staffler-CBD-TRIPS.doc

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