By Thalif Deen, IPS News, May 1, 2012
Just before the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, some of the industrial nations, and specifically the United States, were lambasted for their obscenely high consumption of the world's finite resources, including food, water and energy.
The world was being gradually destroyed, environmentalists warned, by unsustainable consumption.
Hitting back at critics, then U.S. president George H.W. Bush famously declared: "The American way of life is not up for negotiations. Period."
The message, a pre-emptive diplomatic strike by the United States, reverberated throughout the summit of world leaders, whose plan of action for the 21st century virtually skirted the hot political issue.
Now, 20 years later, the United Nations will once again focus on population, consumption and the environment at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (also known as Rio+20) in mid-June in Brazil.
The upcoming summit will adopt a new plan of action for a greener economy and a sustainable future.
A new 134-page study, released on the eve of the summit, and titled "People and the Planet", highlights the rapid and widespread changes in the world's population and the unprecedented levels of consumption that are threatening the well being of the planet.
Authored by the Royal Society, a 352-year-old institution described as a fellowship of the world's most eminent scientists, the study says the Earth's capacity to meet human needs is finite.
But how the limits are approached depends on lifestyle choices and associated consumption - and these depend on what is used, and how, and what is regarded as essential for human wellbeing.
The members of the Royal Society's glorious past include some of the world's illustrious scientists and thinkers of a bygone era, the likes of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, James Watson and Albert Einstein.
Presenting the report on behalf of the Royal Society, Nobel Laureate Sir John Sulston told reporters Tuesday there is a strong link between population, consumption and the environment.
The unsustainable consumption of the world's most developed and emerging economies must be urgently reduced, he said.
A child born in the developed world, he pointed out, consumes 30 to 50 times as much water as one born in the developing world.
The increase in "material consumption", he said, involved food, water, energy and minerals.
And as the report points out, "these resources are the most basic needs for survival, and in some parts of the world even these basic needs are not being met for some people."
By contrast, high levels of material consumption seen in many parts of the world "may lead eventually to loss of well being for the consumer, and, in an inequitable world with finite resources, also result in the deprivation of others."
The 21st century is a critical period for people and the planet, says the study, pointing out that the global population, which reached 7.0 billion during 2011, will reach between eight and 11 billion by 2050.
"Human impact on the Earth raises serious concerns, and in the richest parts of the world per capita material consumption is far above the level that can be sustained for everyone in a population of seven billion or more."
This is in stark contrast to the world's 1.3 billion poorest people, who need to consume more in order to be raised out of extreme poverty.
The study also says that population and consumption are both important: the combination of increasing global population and increasing overall material consumption has implications for a finite planet.
As both continue to rise, signs of unwanted impacts and feedback (such as climate change reducing crop yields in some areas) and of irreversible changes (such as the increased rate of species extinction) are "growing alarmingly".
"The relationship between population, consumption and the environment is not straightforward, as the natural environment and human socio- economic systems are complex in their own right."
Demographic change is driven by economic development, social and cultural factors as well as environmental change. A transition from high to low birth and death rates has occurred in various cultures, in widely different socioeconomic settings, and at different rates, the study adds.
And countries such as Iran and South Korea have moved through the phases of this transition much more rapidly than Europe or North America.
This has brought with it challenges different from those that were experienced by the more developed countries as they reached the late stages of the transition.
Developing countries will be building the equivalent of a city of a million people every five days from now to 2050, the study predicts.
And the continuing and rapid growth of the urban population is having a marked bearing on lifestyle and behaviour: how and what they consume, how many children they have, the type of employment they undertake.
Urban planning is essential to avoid the spread of slums, which are highly deleterious to the welfare of individuals and societies, the study notes.
In a series of recommendations, the study calls on the international community to bring the 1.3 billion people living on less than 1.25 dollars per day out of absolute poverty, and reduce the inequality that persists in the world today.
Additionally, the most developed and the emerging economies must stabilise and then reduce material consumption levels through dramatic improvements in resource use efficiency, including reducing waste; investment in sustainable resources, technologies and infrastructures; and systematically decoupling economic activity from environmental impact.
Also, reproductive health and voluntary family planning programmes urgently require political leadership and financial commitment, both nationally and internationally.
Population and the environment should not be considered as two separate issues, the study says.
"Demographic changes, and the influences on them, should be factored into economic and environmental debate and planning at international meetings, such as the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development and subsequent meetings," it says.
Also, governments should realise the potential of urbanisation to reduce material consumption and environmental impact through efficiency measures.
And in order to meet previously agreed goals for universal education, policy makers in countries with low school attendance need to work with international funders and organisations, such as U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Education for All.
Source
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Smugglers Devastate Gulf of Mannar Marine Reserve
By Malini Shankar, IPS News, May 2, 2012
Forest officials of the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve abutting the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka have reported a decline in marine wildlife, as smugglers exploiting lax conservation laws in the region tank up on protected species used in traditional Chinese medicines and fine dining.
In coordination with the Indian Coast Guard, forest officials have recorded more than 200 cases of smuggling, accounting for the loss of over 13,000 kilogrammes of sea cucumbers (Holothurian scabra) and seahorses (Hippocampus species) in the last 16 months alone.
Illegal marine wildlife traders in India smuggle their catch to neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, where the red-flagged items become legal marine exports to other Southeast Asian countries due to exemptions in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
"The seahorse found in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is one of the five rarer species of seahorses," Shekhar Kumar Niraj, field director of the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, informed IPS.
In 2001, India’s stringent Wildlife Protection Act listed sea cucumbers and seahorses as ‘schedule I’, thereby making forest officials legally responsible for their protection.
Around the same time as this classification came into play, the markets for traditional Chinese medicines exploded.
A fragile ecosystem
The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (GOMMNP), part of the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, is an undersea reserve formed by the strip of land that once connected India to Sri Lanka. The peninsula divides the Palk Straits in the north from the Gulf of Mannar in the south.
The fragile reef ecosystem is shallow and forms the habitat for corals, crabs, clown fish, dugongs, dolphins, porpoise, prawns, parrot fish, sea cucumbers, seahorses, sea snakes, turtles, whales and a whole list of highly endangered endemic marine wildlife.
The marine diversity includes four species of shrimp, 106 species of crabs, 17 types of sea cucumbers, 466 species of molluscs, 108 species of sponges and 100 species of echinoderms.
More than 2000 species of fin fish are found in the Gulf of Mannar and seagrass is also clearly visible in the shallow sea. Prosopsis jujuba, a shrub forest species endemic to dry arid zones, "is surprisingly dominant in the mangroves and mud flats, amply justifying the protection lent to the marine national park," Sundar Kumar, the wildlife warden of the underwater reserve, told IPS.
"The hotbeds and kingpins of marine wildlife crime are in Rameshwaram, Mandapam, and Tuticorin all around the Indian coast of the GOMMNP," T. Rajendran, assistant conservator of forests for the marine reserve, told IPS.
Lose-lose deal for fisherfolk
"There is no local consumption or markets (for smuggled goods). Only the middlemen gain. These are the (people) who are connected to international crime syndicates," added Niraj. These ‘middlemen’ buy sea cucumbers from fisherfolk for about 50 dollars per kilogramme and sell them for a profit of 600 percent, at 307 dollars per kilogramme.
"Sea cucumbers have ecologically significant roles in scavenging coasts and seabeds, which in turn helps other species like corals and seagrass to flourish and propagate," Niraj explained.
"Only owners of trawler fishing boats indulge in poaching sea cucumbers, which is a double whammy for us traditional fishermen; not only is the catch depleting, but fuel prices are increasing. The additional burden of illegal poaching of marine wildlife by trawler fishermen make us suspect in the eyes of the enforcement agencies," lamented K. David, a traditional fisherman in Rameshwaram.
Field director Niraj disputes the fact that trawler fisherfolk are the only smugglers involved in this rackets, pointing to statistics of recent raids that show traditional (Dinghy) fishermen also indulging in the smuggling of sea cucumbers and seahorses.
David is convinced that traditional fishing will come to an end when his generation is "dead and gone", since youngsters like 10-year-old Vishal Selvan and 11-year-old Alan want to become merchant navy captains and Indian Administrative Service officers respectively.
In order to keep traditional fishermen from engaging with smugglers out of economic desperation, employment schemes have been put in place to guarantee the livelihoods of various fisherfolk, in the face of depleting fish stocks.
"The alternative livelihood initiatives carried out by the United Nations Development Programme-Global Environmental Facility (UNDP-GEF) through the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve Trust (GoMBRT) include Palmyra mat weaving and thatch making, clown fish and other ornamental fish fattening, goat rearing, jasmine cultivation, betel leaf cultivation, salt-fish making and plaster of Paris for doll-making," V. Deepak Samuel, programme specialist at the energy and environment unit of the UNDP-GEF (GoMBRT), told IPS.
Unchecked crime
"We are as yet unable to trace the route of smuggled goods and links beyond Sri Lanka to markets in the Far East, primarily because once the goods arrive in Sri Lanka they become legal exports, blocking our investigations further," explained a wildlife crime inspector, speaking under condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.
Patrolling the sea is all the more challenging given enforcement agencies’ meagre logistical capacity.
Led by Rajendran, the entire patrol operation includes four range forest officers, 22 foresters, 11 guards, two watchers and 33 anti-poaching camp watchers who share six jeeps, six wireless sets, two base stations, six anti-poaching camps, eight mechanised patrol boats and three speed boats between them – to patrol an area of 10,500 square kilometres or 18,900 nautical miles.
They lack night vision lamps and financial incentives. They are no match for the 25,000 well equipped trawlers that fish illegally across the whole Marine Biosphere Reserve every day.
Still, the greatest challenge is not out on the water.
"Opposition to protection of marine wildlife (and) fishes comes from even official establishments like the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Marine Products Export Development Authority and the National Institute of Oceanography – all in the name of livelihoods," Niraj said.
"Growing numbers of anthropologists propagate illusions glossing over the likely consequences that would emerge should we lose the remaining biodiversity… They quote the Convention on Biological Diversity where sustainability, right to access and benefits sharing are the guiding principles. However, sustainability that applies to economic principles may not exactly apply to ecology because of biological principles that are very different," Niraj explained.
Poaching of sea cucumbers even in the seas around the Andaman Nicobar Islands is so rampant that natives report they hardly sight sea cucumbers anymore.
Source
Forest officials of the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve abutting the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka have reported a decline in marine wildlife, as smugglers exploiting lax conservation laws in the region tank up on protected species used in traditional Chinese medicines and fine dining.
In coordination with the Indian Coast Guard, forest officials have recorded more than 200 cases of smuggling, accounting for the loss of over 13,000 kilogrammes of sea cucumbers (Holothurian scabra) and seahorses (Hippocampus species) in the last 16 months alone.
Illegal marine wildlife traders in India smuggle their catch to neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, where the red-flagged items become legal marine exports to other Southeast Asian countries due to exemptions in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
"The seahorse found in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is one of the five rarer species of seahorses," Shekhar Kumar Niraj, field director of the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, informed IPS.
In 2001, India’s stringent Wildlife Protection Act listed sea cucumbers and seahorses as ‘schedule I’, thereby making forest officials legally responsible for their protection.
Around the same time as this classification came into play, the markets for traditional Chinese medicines exploded.
A fragile ecosystem
The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (GOMMNP), part of the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, is an undersea reserve formed by the strip of land that once connected India to Sri Lanka. The peninsula divides the Palk Straits in the north from the Gulf of Mannar in the south.
The fragile reef ecosystem is shallow and forms the habitat for corals, crabs, clown fish, dugongs, dolphins, porpoise, prawns, parrot fish, sea cucumbers, seahorses, sea snakes, turtles, whales and a whole list of highly endangered endemic marine wildlife.
The marine diversity includes four species of shrimp, 106 species of crabs, 17 types of sea cucumbers, 466 species of molluscs, 108 species of sponges and 100 species of echinoderms.
More than 2000 species of fin fish are found in the Gulf of Mannar and seagrass is also clearly visible in the shallow sea. Prosopsis jujuba, a shrub forest species endemic to dry arid zones, "is surprisingly dominant in the mangroves and mud flats, amply justifying the protection lent to the marine national park," Sundar Kumar, the wildlife warden of the underwater reserve, told IPS.
"The hotbeds and kingpins of marine wildlife crime are in Rameshwaram, Mandapam, and Tuticorin all around the Indian coast of the GOMMNP," T. Rajendran, assistant conservator of forests for the marine reserve, told IPS.
Lose-lose deal for fisherfolk
"There is no local consumption or markets (for smuggled goods). Only the middlemen gain. These are the (people) who are connected to international crime syndicates," added Niraj. These ‘middlemen’ buy sea cucumbers from fisherfolk for about 50 dollars per kilogramme and sell them for a profit of 600 percent, at 307 dollars per kilogramme.
"Sea cucumbers have ecologically significant roles in scavenging coasts and seabeds, which in turn helps other species like corals and seagrass to flourish and propagate," Niraj explained.
"Only owners of trawler fishing boats indulge in poaching sea cucumbers, which is a double whammy for us traditional fishermen; not only is the catch depleting, but fuel prices are increasing. The additional burden of illegal poaching of marine wildlife by trawler fishermen make us suspect in the eyes of the enforcement agencies," lamented K. David, a traditional fisherman in Rameshwaram.
Field director Niraj disputes the fact that trawler fisherfolk are the only smugglers involved in this rackets, pointing to statistics of recent raids that show traditional (Dinghy) fishermen also indulging in the smuggling of sea cucumbers and seahorses.
David is convinced that traditional fishing will come to an end when his generation is "dead and gone", since youngsters like 10-year-old Vishal Selvan and 11-year-old Alan want to become merchant navy captains and Indian Administrative Service officers respectively.
In order to keep traditional fishermen from engaging with smugglers out of economic desperation, employment schemes have been put in place to guarantee the livelihoods of various fisherfolk, in the face of depleting fish stocks.
"The alternative livelihood initiatives carried out by the United Nations Development Programme-Global Environmental Facility (UNDP-GEF) through the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve Trust (GoMBRT) include Palmyra mat weaving and thatch making, clown fish and other ornamental fish fattening, goat rearing, jasmine cultivation, betel leaf cultivation, salt-fish making and plaster of Paris for doll-making," V. Deepak Samuel, programme specialist at the energy and environment unit of the UNDP-GEF (GoMBRT), told IPS.
Unchecked crime
"We are as yet unable to trace the route of smuggled goods and links beyond Sri Lanka to markets in the Far East, primarily because once the goods arrive in Sri Lanka they become legal exports, blocking our investigations further," explained a wildlife crime inspector, speaking under condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.
Patrolling the sea is all the more challenging given enforcement agencies’ meagre logistical capacity.
Led by Rajendran, the entire patrol operation includes four range forest officers, 22 foresters, 11 guards, two watchers and 33 anti-poaching camp watchers who share six jeeps, six wireless sets, two base stations, six anti-poaching camps, eight mechanised patrol boats and three speed boats between them – to patrol an area of 10,500 square kilometres or 18,900 nautical miles.
They lack night vision lamps and financial incentives. They are no match for the 25,000 well equipped trawlers that fish illegally across the whole Marine Biosphere Reserve every day.
Still, the greatest challenge is not out on the water.
"Opposition to protection of marine wildlife (and) fishes comes from even official establishments like the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Marine Products Export Development Authority and the National Institute of Oceanography – all in the name of livelihoods," Niraj said.
"Growing numbers of anthropologists propagate illusions glossing over the likely consequences that would emerge should we lose the remaining biodiversity… They quote the Convention on Biological Diversity where sustainability, right to access and benefits sharing are the guiding principles. However, sustainability that applies to economic principles may not exactly apply to ecology because of biological principles that are very different," Niraj explained.
Poaching of sea cucumbers even in the seas around the Andaman Nicobar Islands is so rampant that natives report they hardly sight sea cucumbers anymore.
Source
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Tree-planting schemes sprout across South America
Alertnet / Ana Belluscio, March 27,2012
Children at the elementary school in El Trapiche village in Argentina’s San Luis province have been working out the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by generation of electricity used in local homes, and planting trees to suck up an equivalent amount of the greenhouse gas.
Principal Isabel Lagos says the “Zero Balance” programme – developed by researchers at the local University of La Punta - has helped her pupils learn about environmental conservation and the need to reduce the planet-warming emissions that are driving climate change.
“The whole school participated - even young children,” she explains, “and they started to protect trees, becoming conscious of their importance.”
Six-year-old Wendi and nine-year-old Camila, sisters and pupils at the school, recount how they went from house to house asking people about their energy consumption.
“I planted five trees, and after the second survey, I planted some more,” says Camila.
According to programme coordinator Victoria Marini, the aim is to “teach children about climate change, energy efficiency, afforestation and environmental education through the use of technology”.
Students learn how to achieve a “zero balance” in emissions, by calculating the amount of carbon dioxide released by the use of power in their neighborhoods, then using an online tool to work out the number of trees they must plant to offset the emissions.
Since the programme was launched in December 2008, 200,000 trees have been planted in 22 towns across the central province of San Luis. Almost 6,000 children have taken part, and researchers hope that number will have risen to 50,000 by 2014.
And it’s not only children who are learning.
“Even adults (participate), by walking their children from house to house to conduct the survey,” says head teacher Lagos.
On going deforestation
Initiatives to plant new trees and restore forests are being launched across South America - both to repair the damage done to huge swathes of land cleared for farming, and to promote carbon storage in vegetation, which helps mitigate climate change.
But experts caution they must not be regarded as a substitute for greater efforts to prevent forests being cut down in the first place.
According to the 2011 State of the World’s Forests report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), South America’s deforestation rate has slowed and has remained stable in percentage terms since 1990.
But forest area in Central and South America has continued to shrink over the last two decades, mainly because of the conversion of forests to farmland – a problem expected to worsen in coming decades as demand for food grows worldwide.
Latin America – home to the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon - holds 57 percent of the world’s primary forests, the report notes. But scientists say forests that are lost to logging or converted into farmland are unlikely to be fully replaced once cut down.
“Some environments, such as the jungle in Misiones and Chaco (in Argentina), or the Yungas (humid forests) in the north, are so complex that they are impossible to restore,” says Carlos Fernández Balboa, an environmental education coordinator with the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, a local partner of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that works towards sustainable development.
Whether led by states or non-governmental organisations, reforestation programmes aim to resurrect, at least to some degree, forest ecosystems affected by logging.
Protecting and planting trees can also play an important role in community development and local economies, experts say.
Fernanda Peixoto, a Brazil field representative for Trees for the Future, an organisation that works to restore degraded land through tree-planting and sustainable farming, runs workshops to explain the benefits of trees for individual households.
The group provides training and seedlings to communities in the southern Brazilian state of São Paulo, introducing agroforestry techniques to settlements generally made up of one big farm divided among many low-income families.
Since 2009, the communities Peixoto has worked with have planted 450,000 trees.
“We also show people why it matters," she says. "They need to protect their (agricultural) production with windbreaks, and they need shelter for their cows.”
Weighing up benefits
While planting trees is widely seen as a positive activity for people and the environment, some researchers say studies are needed to determine how many new trees a region can take without upsetting its natural equilibrium.
Others query the different methodologies used to quantify the environmental benefits of reforestation, including the volume of carbon emissions they are expected to reduce, and how long those benefits will last.
Another factor to consider is the type of tree that is planted. “It is not the same to reforest with native species as with exotic,” says Fernández Balboa of the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina. Exotic species, for example, may have different water requirements than indigenous trees.
The economic benefits of various types of reforestation also need to be analysed. Exotic species, for instance, often grow faster and produce more wood.
“If we see the problem from an environmental point of view, native (trees) are better. But if we look it from the economic point of view, exotic wins," says Marcelo Nosetto, a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).
Peixoto explains that her project in Brazil focuses on replanting “productive” trees with particular features, such as rapid growth and small leaves that don’t cast too much shade, leaving the ground below them available for agriculture.
Meanwhile, Marini and her “Zero Balance” team in San Luis work both with native species, such as carob trees and caldén, and exotic species adapted to the arid ecosystem, including aguaribay and acacia.
But many experts believe reforestation and afforestation should be seen as a palliative remedy rather than a solution to the problem of deforestation.
For Fernández Balboa, protecting existing forest areas is essential.
"Education and awareness on the benefits of reforestation is great - a good campaign including native species that involves schools or government agencies is fantastic,” he says.
But once a forest is lost, returning it to its former state - even with reforestation programmes - is close to impossible, he says.
“It won’t have the same complexity or various strata as the original forest, since that takes hundreds of years to develop,” he explains.
Source
Children at the elementary school in El Trapiche village in Argentina’s San Luis province have been working out the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by generation of electricity used in local homes, and planting trees to suck up an equivalent amount of the greenhouse gas.
Principal Isabel Lagos says the “Zero Balance” programme – developed by researchers at the local University of La Punta - has helped her pupils learn about environmental conservation and the need to reduce the planet-warming emissions that are driving climate change.
“The whole school participated - even young children,” she explains, “and they started to protect trees, becoming conscious of their importance.”
Six-year-old Wendi and nine-year-old Camila, sisters and pupils at the school, recount how they went from house to house asking people about their energy consumption.
“I planted five trees, and after the second survey, I planted some more,” says Camila.
According to programme coordinator Victoria Marini, the aim is to “teach children about climate change, energy efficiency, afforestation and environmental education through the use of technology”.
Students learn how to achieve a “zero balance” in emissions, by calculating the amount of carbon dioxide released by the use of power in their neighborhoods, then using an online tool to work out the number of trees they must plant to offset the emissions.
Since the programme was launched in December 2008, 200,000 trees have been planted in 22 towns across the central province of San Luis. Almost 6,000 children have taken part, and researchers hope that number will have risen to 50,000 by 2014.
And it’s not only children who are learning.
“Even adults (participate), by walking their children from house to house to conduct the survey,” says head teacher Lagos.
On going deforestation
Initiatives to plant new trees and restore forests are being launched across South America - both to repair the damage done to huge swathes of land cleared for farming, and to promote carbon storage in vegetation, which helps mitigate climate change.
But experts caution they must not be regarded as a substitute for greater efforts to prevent forests being cut down in the first place.
According to the 2011 State of the World’s Forests report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), South America’s deforestation rate has slowed and has remained stable in percentage terms since 1990.
But forest area in Central and South America has continued to shrink over the last two decades, mainly because of the conversion of forests to farmland – a problem expected to worsen in coming decades as demand for food grows worldwide.
Latin America – home to the world’s largest tropical forest, the Amazon - holds 57 percent of the world’s primary forests, the report notes. But scientists say forests that are lost to logging or converted into farmland are unlikely to be fully replaced once cut down.
“Some environments, such as the jungle in Misiones and Chaco (in Argentina), or the Yungas (humid forests) in the north, are so complex that they are impossible to restore,” says Carlos Fernández Balboa, an environmental education coordinator with the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, a local partner of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that works towards sustainable development.
Whether led by states or non-governmental organisations, reforestation programmes aim to resurrect, at least to some degree, forest ecosystems affected by logging.
Protecting and planting trees can also play an important role in community development and local economies, experts say.
Fernanda Peixoto, a Brazil field representative for Trees for the Future, an organisation that works to restore degraded land through tree-planting and sustainable farming, runs workshops to explain the benefits of trees for individual households.
The group provides training and seedlings to communities in the southern Brazilian state of São Paulo, introducing agroforestry techniques to settlements generally made up of one big farm divided among many low-income families.
Since 2009, the communities Peixoto has worked with have planted 450,000 trees.
“We also show people why it matters," she says. "They need to protect their (agricultural) production with windbreaks, and they need shelter for their cows.”
Weighing up benefits
While planting trees is widely seen as a positive activity for people and the environment, some researchers say studies are needed to determine how many new trees a region can take without upsetting its natural equilibrium.
Others query the different methodologies used to quantify the environmental benefits of reforestation, including the volume of carbon emissions they are expected to reduce, and how long those benefits will last.
Another factor to consider is the type of tree that is planted. “It is not the same to reforest with native species as with exotic,” says Fernández Balboa of the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina. Exotic species, for example, may have different water requirements than indigenous trees.
The economic benefits of various types of reforestation also need to be analysed. Exotic species, for instance, often grow faster and produce more wood.
“If we see the problem from an environmental point of view, native (trees) are better. But if we look it from the economic point of view, exotic wins," says Marcelo Nosetto, a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).
Peixoto explains that her project in Brazil focuses on replanting “productive” trees with particular features, such as rapid growth and small leaves that don’t cast too much shade, leaving the ground below them available for agriculture.
Meanwhile, Marini and her “Zero Balance” team in San Luis work both with native species, such as carob trees and caldén, and exotic species adapted to the arid ecosystem, including aguaribay and acacia.
But many experts believe reforestation and afforestation should be seen as a palliative remedy rather than a solution to the problem of deforestation.
For Fernández Balboa, protecting existing forest areas is essential.
"Education and awareness on the benefits of reforestation is great - a good campaign including native species that involves schools or government agencies is fantastic,” he says.
But once a forest is lost, returning it to its former state - even with reforestation programmes - is close to impossible, he says.
“It won’t have the same complexity or various strata as the original forest, since that takes hundreds of years to develop,” he explains.
Source
False starts to Cameroon rainy season confuse farmers
By alertnet / Elias Ntungwe Ngalame
Cameroon’s farmers have run into trouble after unusual early rains two years in a row pushed them to begin planting ahead of time, especially in the south. The rain soon dried up, causing confusion over the farming calendar and leaving crops withering in the fields.
When the rain arrived abnormally in late January and early February, many farmers set to work planting crops like maize, beans and groundnuts, believing the growing season had begun.
But the rains then stopped, and the intense, prolonged sunshine that followed dried up the young plants, saddling farmers with big losses.
At the March launch of a national campaign to modernise Cameroon’s agriculture in the southern town of Bafia, regional farmers’ representative Clement Zambo lamented the erratic rainfall, wondering aloud why nature has been treating them so unfairly.
“We don’t know how we are going to begin work when the rain that started only last month has suddenly disappeared,” Zambo said in a speech at a ceremony attended by the agriculture minister. “We don’t know what will become of our crop yields this year. Mr. Minister, please, we need rain.”
He appealed to the government to reduce the price of fertiliser, agricultural chemicals and seeds to encourage farmers to produce more.
Annual rainfall varies across Cameroon, with some southern areas among the wettest places in the region. But the dry season, which normally runs from October to April, generally brings sunny, dusty conditions across most parts of the country with almost no rain.
This month, some farmers were reluctant to start planting even when the rains began, because they felt unsure whether they would continue as normal, or stop again.
Mixed Signals
Climate scientists say it is too early to know what is behind the atypical rain pattern. 'These early February rains are out of the norms based on our experience, but studies are still ongoing as to the cause,” said Wassouni Amadou, a climate expert at Cameroon’s ministry of environment and nature protection.
Some believe there a may be a link with high rates of deforestation in the country, but that has yet to be proven, he added.
Another farmer from the Bafia region echoed Zambo’s fears of poor yields due to weather uncertainties. “We usually begin planting as soon as the first rain signals, and this has been the tradition, but we are surprised at what has been happening this time around,” Paul Engoz’o told Alertnet.
He said his five-hectare maize farm had dried up barely five weeks after planting in February, causing him a loss of over 200,000 Central African (CFA) francs (around $398).
"Even if the rains come again, we are not sure the yields are going to be encouraging as in the past,” he added.
Expressing sympathy with their predicament, agriculture minister Essimi Menye urged the farmers to stick to the official planting calendar in future to avoid being caught out.
“Farmers are advised not to plant at the signal of early rains in the month of February, but rather to wait for the late March and early April planting calendar,” he said.
At the campaign launch, the minister’s team also provided farmers with training in local dialects on key concepts of climate change such as global warming, climate abnormalities like more intense rains and droughts, and the need to adapt to climate shifts.
Rising Imports
Whatever the reason for the early bursts of rain in the past two years, there is no doubt they are confusing the production calendar and harming the production of most crops.
“This is a result of climate change, and unfortunately our farmers have been victim to this abnormality, incurring heavy losses,” said Dangobert Djakou, chief of situation analysis and agriculture policy in the ministry of agriculture and rural development.
When the rain does come, it tends to be more intense than usual, triggering the spread of plant diseases such as black root among cocoa, and blight on vegetables and the leaves of other food crops such as potatoes, cocoyam and tomatoes, Djakou said.
It has also washed out the mostly earth roads used by farmers and merchants to transport goods to market.
As a result, both farmers and merchants have seen their incomes drop sharply, and have hiked the sale price of their products to make up for it. Falling food production in many areas has also increased the need for imports to fill the gap, Djakou added.
Cameroon spent more than 500 billion CFA francs (close to $1 billion) in 2011 on imports of rice, flour, fish and other food commodities, according to the minister.
Given that agriculture contributes over 40 percent of Cameroon’s gross domestic product (GDP), the government will step up efforts to support farmers and boost production, he said.
This year, it plans to encourage mechanised agriculture by distributing tractors to farmer groups across the country, supported by the establishment of a tractor assembly plant near Ebolowa in the south.
Twelve groups in Bafia have received 36 tractors between them, as well as several tonnes of farm tools and inputs. The materials include truckloads of fertiliser, wheelbarrows, hoes, watering cans and spades.
The minister emphasised that Cameroon’s agricultural sector needs to modernise, because it is a major pillar of the national economy.
"Agriculture should be seen as a business, as agribusiness - that is why we want it to be mechanised to encourage large-scale and quality production," he said.
Source
Cameroon’s farmers have run into trouble after unusual early rains two years in a row pushed them to begin planting ahead of time, especially in the south. The rain soon dried up, causing confusion over the farming calendar and leaving crops withering in the fields.
When the rain arrived abnormally in late January and early February, many farmers set to work planting crops like maize, beans and groundnuts, believing the growing season had begun.
But the rains then stopped, and the intense, prolonged sunshine that followed dried up the young plants, saddling farmers with big losses.
At the March launch of a national campaign to modernise Cameroon’s agriculture in the southern town of Bafia, regional farmers’ representative Clement Zambo lamented the erratic rainfall, wondering aloud why nature has been treating them so unfairly.
“We don’t know how we are going to begin work when the rain that started only last month has suddenly disappeared,” Zambo said in a speech at a ceremony attended by the agriculture minister. “We don’t know what will become of our crop yields this year. Mr. Minister, please, we need rain.”
He appealed to the government to reduce the price of fertiliser, agricultural chemicals and seeds to encourage farmers to produce more.
Annual rainfall varies across Cameroon, with some southern areas among the wettest places in the region. But the dry season, which normally runs from October to April, generally brings sunny, dusty conditions across most parts of the country with almost no rain.
This month, some farmers were reluctant to start planting even when the rains began, because they felt unsure whether they would continue as normal, or stop again.
Mixed Signals
Climate scientists say it is too early to know what is behind the atypical rain pattern. 'These early February rains are out of the norms based on our experience, but studies are still ongoing as to the cause,” said Wassouni Amadou, a climate expert at Cameroon’s ministry of environment and nature protection.
Some believe there a may be a link with high rates of deforestation in the country, but that has yet to be proven, he added.
Another farmer from the Bafia region echoed Zambo’s fears of poor yields due to weather uncertainties. “We usually begin planting as soon as the first rain signals, and this has been the tradition, but we are surprised at what has been happening this time around,” Paul Engoz’o told Alertnet.
He said his five-hectare maize farm had dried up barely five weeks after planting in February, causing him a loss of over 200,000 Central African (CFA) francs (around $398).
"Even if the rains come again, we are not sure the yields are going to be encouraging as in the past,” he added.
Expressing sympathy with their predicament, agriculture minister Essimi Menye urged the farmers to stick to the official planting calendar in future to avoid being caught out.
“Farmers are advised not to plant at the signal of early rains in the month of February, but rather to wait for the late March and early April planting calendar,” he said.
At the campaign launch, the minister’s team also provided farmers with training in local dialects on key concepts of climate change such as global warming, climate abnormalities like more intense rains and droughts, and the need to adapt to climate shifts.
Rising Imports
Whatever the reason for the early bursts of rain in the past two years, there is no doubt they are confusing the production calendar and harming the production of most crops.
“This is a result of climate change, and unfortunately our farmers have been victim to this abnormality, incurring heavy losses,” said Dangobert Djakou, chief of situation analysis and agriculture policy in the ministry of agriculture and rural development.
When the rain does come, it tends to be more intense than usual, triggering the spread of plant diseases such as black root among cocoa, and blight on vegetables and the leaves of other food crops such as potatoes, cocoyam and tomatoes, Djakou said.
It has also washed out the mostly earth roads used by farmers and merchants to transport goods to market.
As a result, both farmers and merchants have seen their incomes drop sharply, and have hiked the sale price of their products to make up for it. Falling food production in many areas has also increased the need for imports to fill the gap, Djakou added.
Cameroon spent more than 500 billion CFA francs (close to $1 billion) in 2011 on imports of rice, flour, fish and other food commodities, according to the minister.
Given that agriculture contributes over 40 percent of Cameroon’s gross domestic product (GDP), the government will step up efforts to support farmers and boost production, he said.
This year, it plans to encourage mechanised agriculture by distributing tractors to farmer groups across the country, supported by the establishment of a tractor assembly plant near Ebolowa in the south.
Twelve groups in Bafia have received 36 tractors between them, as well as several tonnes of farm tools and inputs. The materials include truckloads of fertiliser, wheelbarrows, hoes, watering cans and spades.
The minister emphasised that Cameroon’s agricultural sector needs to modernise, because it is a major pillar of the national economy.
"Agriculture should be seen as a business, as agribusiness - that is why we want it to be mechanised to encourage large-scale and quality production," he said.
Source
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Global biodiversity panel launched
Source: Nature News, April 30, 2012
A global science assessment panel for biodiversity, modelled on the International Panel on Climate Change, was launched in Panama City earlier this month (21 April).
The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems (IPBES) was agreed to in June 2010 by more than 230 government representatives from more than 80 countries.
Its aim is to influence global policy by providing policymakers with scientific assessments on a range of issues affecting environmental sustainability.
Specific themes will be decided on in 2013 at the panel's first plenary meeting, but work on reviewing existing assessments — such as 2005's global Millennium Ecosystem Assessment — will begin immediately.
Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Paris-based international biodiversity research programme DIVERSITAS, told Nature News: "Our community sees this as an extremely important step in order not to waste any time until the first plenary meets".
The panel will be hosted in Bonn, Germany, which beat competition from countries including Korea and India, and promised funding for capacity building in developing nations.
Its annual budget, estimated to be between US$5–13 million, is yet to be confirmed, but a trust fund will be established to receive voluntary contributions.
Also still in negotiations is the selection of scientists to sit on the panel — organisations such as DIVERSITAS will be invited to make nominations.
Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), said: "I hope that this body will allow biodiversity to be better taken into account in sustainable-development strategies, as the IPCC has for climate change over the past 20 years".
Source
A global science assessment panel for biodiversity, modelled on the International Panel on Climate Change, was launched in Panama City earlier this month (21 April).
The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems (IPBES) was agreed to in June 2010 by more than 230 government representatives from more than 80 countries.
Its aim is to influence global policy by providing policymakers with scientific assessments on a range of issues affecting environmental sustainability.
Specific themes will be decided on in 2013 at the panel's first plenary meeting, but work on reviewing existing assessments — such as 2005's global Millennium Ecosystem Assessment — will begin immediately.
Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Paris-based international biodiversity research programme DIVERSITAS, told Nature News: "Our community sees this as an extremely important step in order not to waste any time until the first plenary meets".
The panel will be hosted in Bonn, Germany, which beat competition from countries including Korea and India, and promised funding for capacity building in developing nations.
Its annual budget, estimated to be between US$5–13 million, is yet to be confirmed, but a trust fund will be established to receive voluntary contributions.
Also still in negotiations is the selection of scientists to sit on the panel — organisations such as DIVERSITAS will be invited to make nominations.
Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), said: "I hope that this body will allow biodiversity to be better taken into account in sustainable-development strategies, as the IPCC has for climate change over the past 20 years".
Source
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
EU's biofuel policy fuelling food inflation: ActionAid
By Ankur Paliwal
Report predicts forced displacement of poor people from their land to meet EU targets to grow fuel crops
The European Union’s biofuel policies are driving up global food prices and pushing people in poor countries off their land, says a recent report of ActionAid. EU has a target of 10 per cent renewable energy in transport by 2020, and 88 per cent of this is expected to come from biofuels.
The report Fuel for Thought comes at a time when the European Commission is set to submit a report on Renewable Energy Directive to the European Parliament this year. “We want the commission to investigate the full impacts of the EU’s biofuels policies on human rights in its review,” says Laura Sullivan, ActionAid’s head of European advocacy.
The report says EU’s increased demand for biofuels may push global food prices to crisis levels. It is estimated that the EU’s biofuels policies alone could push up oilseed prices by up to 33 per cent, maize by up to 22 per cent, sugar by up to 21 per cent and wheat by up to 10 per cent, between now and 2020. “If it continues to ignore the impacts of its biofuels policy on people living in some of the poorest parts of the planet, the EU will effectively be sponsoring hunger and human rights abuses on a massive scale,” says Sullivan.
With an estimated 13-19 million hectares of land outside of Europe needed to meet the EU-wide targets to grow fuel for the European market, forced displacement of poor people from their land are set to increase, says the report which documents a series of dodgy deals by European companies, leading to mass displacement and rights abuses in countries in Africa and Latin America. For example, eleven villages in Tanzania were affected when a British company seized 8,200 hectares of land to grow biofuel for the European market.
Source
Report predicts forced displacement of poor people from their land to meet EU targets to grow fuel crops
The European Union’s biofuel policies are driving up global food prices and pushing people in poor countries off their land, says a recent report of ActionAid. EU has a target of 10 per cent renewable energy in transport by 2020, and 88 per cent of this is expected to come from biofuels.
The report Fuel for Thought comes at a time when the European Commission is set to submit a report on Renewable Energy Directive to the European Parliament this year. “We want the commission to investigate the full impacts of the EU’s biofuels policies on human rights in its review,” says Laura Sullivan, ActionAid’s head of European advocacy.
The report says EU’s increased demand for biofuels may push global food prices to crisis levels. It is estimated that the EU’s biofuels policies alone could push up oilseed prices by up to 33 per cent, maize by up to 22 per cent, sugar by up to 21 per cent and wheat by up to 10 per cent, between now and 2020. “If it continues to ignore the impacts of its biofuels policy on people living in some of the poorest parts of the planet, the EU will effectively be sponsoring hunger and human rights abuses on a massive scale,” says Sullivan.
With an estimated 13-19 million hectares of land outside of Europe needed to meet the EU-wide targets to grow fuel for the European market, forced displacement of poor people from their land are set to increase, says the report which documents a series of dodgy deals by European companies, leading to mass displacement and rights abuses in countries in Africa and Latin America. For example, eleven villages in Tanzania were affected when a British company seized 8,200 hectares of land to grow biofuel for the European market.
Source
United Nations “seized by corporate power”
By Social Watch, Thursday 26 April 2012
In the eve of Rio2012, civil society organizations all over the world are warning against the “growing influence of major corporations and business lobby groups within the UN”. Those concerns became also apparent in the thirteenth session of the UNCTAD in Doha, where the rich countries were trying to minimize the role of that agency, whose reports have consistently criticized the politics of deregulation, liberalization and privatization that benefit the private sector.
“The preamble of the Charter of the UN starts with the words ‘We the peoples of the United Nations’. Today however, corporate interests are increasingly prioritized over peoples’ interests in some UN processes and institutions. […] Businesses have gained enormous influence over UN decisions,” reads a statement launched this week by several international civil society organizations.
The text was initially signed by Friends of the Earth International, Corporate Europe Observatory, La Via Campesina, Jubilee South/Americas, Servicio Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ-Latin America), Polaris Institute, The Council of Canadians, The Transnational Institute, Third World Network, World March of Women. Those organizations asked others to join them because they believe that “the UN is currently the most democratic and appropriate global institution for international negotiations.”
“Corporate lobbying within UN negotiations has managed to block effective solutions for problems related to climate change, food production, the violation of human rights, water supply, health issues, poverty and deforestation,” adds the statement, titled “Ending corporate capture of the United Nations”, which demands “further strengthening of multilateral institutions and processes within the UN framework, making them more democratic and responsive to the needs of people.” “No need to ask who is in charge nowadays; governments no longer consult with business, business consults with governments,” according to the signatory organizations. The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio2012) to be held in June “should be seized as the opportunity to […] terminate dubious partnerships between the UN and businesses, and end the privileged access that has been granted to the corporate sector and consequently the excessive influence it is able to wield over important multilateral processes and decisions,” they say.
The statement remarks several partnerships that engage UN agencies, including UNICEF, UNDP, WHO and UNESCO, with “major transnational companies”. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has established partnerships with oil and mining firms such as ExxonMobil, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Shell, “all of which are involved in human rights violations and the destruction of biodiversity,” according to the study. “Other examples include: Coca Cola and the UN Development Program (UNDP) on water resource protection, and BASF and Coca Cola with UN-HABITAT on sustainable urbanization. Such partnerships not only damage the credibility of the UN, they also undermine its ability and willingness to respond to and regulate the business sector where it is involved in social, environmental and human rights violations,” warns the statement.
The UN Global Compact, defined as “a global platform which convenes companies together with UN agencies, labor and civil society”, allows “notable human rights violators to participate” and helps them “to boost their image and profits, instead of promoting binding obligations that would contribute to changing companies’ performance.” This alliance “gives the false impression that the UN and transnational companies share the same goals,” warns the signatory organizations.
In the way to Rio2012, the corporate pressure eased by the UN partnerships with the International Chamber of Commerce and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development led to a draft of outcome declaration that “reinforces the role of business as a promoter of the so-called green economy, but completely fails to address the role of business in creating the financial, climate, food and other crises.” The statement asks the UN and its member states to “resist corporate pressure to give business a privileged position in UN negotiations” and “stop setting up new discussion bodies and high-level groups (and dissolve existing ones) that grant” that powerful participation.
It also recommend that “business representatives should not be part of national delegations involved in UN negotiations.” “The UN must disclose all existing relations and links with the private sector” and “a code of conduct for UN officials, including a ‘cooling off’ period during which officials cannot start working for lobby groups or lobbying advisory firms, should be introduced,” adds the text. The United Nations system must also monitor, according to the civil society organizations, “the impacts of corporations on people and the environment and establish a legally binding framework of obligations that can hold companies accountable to environmental, human rights and labor rights law.”
In the meantime, at the thirteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII) held this week in Doha, Qatar, the group of rich economies made up by the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States have sought to impose a mandate on the agency to push developing countries to adopt investor protection and trade policies in accordance with the corporate interests of developed countries, reported the Third World Network.
On the other hand, civil society organizations that participate at Doha have called for the removal of constraints on developing countries’ policy space embedded in free trade and investment agreements, and in conditionalities imposed by donor and international financial institutions. UNCTAD was established to offer analysis and advice to governments on development issues related to trade, finance and technology, among other matters. Its previous conference agreed in Accra to broaden the organization’s mandate. Over the years, analysis produced by UNCTAD consistently pointed out the dangers of the liberalisation and deregulation of markets and finances which produced the current economic crisis.
Source
In the eve of Rio2012, civil society organizations all over the world are warning against the “growing influence of major corporations and business lobby groups within the UN”. Those concerns became also apparent in the thirteenth session of the UNCTAD in Doha, where the rich countries were trying to minimize the role of that agency, whose reports have consistently criticized the politics of deregulation, liberalization and privatization that benefit the private sector.
“The preamble of the Charter of the UN starts with the words ‘We the peoples of the United Nations’. Today however, corporate interests are increasingly prioritized over peoples’ interests in some UN processes and institutions. […] Businesses have gained enormous influence over UN decisions,” reads a statement launched this week by several international civil society organizations.
The text was initially signed by Friends of the Earth International, Corporate Europe Observatory, La Via Campesina, Jubilee South/Americas, Servicio Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ-Latin America), Polaris Institute, The Council of Canadians, The Transnational Institute, Third World Network, World March of Women. Those organizations asked others to join them because they believe that “the UN is currently the most democratic and appropriate global institution for international negotiations.”
“Corporate lobbying within UN negotiations has managed to block effective solutions for problems related to climate change, food production, the violation of human rights, water supply, health issues, poverty and deforestation,” adds the statement, titled “Ending corporate capture of the United Nations”, which demands “further strengthening of multilateral institutions and processes within the UN framework, making them more democratic and responsive to the needs of people.” “No need to ask who is in charge nowadays; governments no longer consult with business, business consults with governments,” according to the signatory organizations. The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio2012) to be held in June “should be seized as the opportunity to […] terminate dubious partnerships between the UN and businesses, and end the privileged access that has been granted to the corporate sector and consequently the excessive influence it is able to wield over important multilateral processes and decisions,” they say.
The statement remarks several partnerships that engage UN agencies, including UNICEF, UNDP, WHO and UNESCO, with “major transnational companies”. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has established partnerships with oil and mining firms such as ExxonMobil, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Shell, “all of which are involved in human rights violations and the destruction of biodiversity,” according to the study. “Other examples include: Coca Cola and the UN Development Program (UNDP) on water resource protection, and BASF and Coca Cola with UN-HABITAT on sustainable urbanization. Such partnerships not only damage the credibility of the UN, they also undermine its ability and willingness to respond to and regulate the business sector where it is involved in social, environmental and human rights violations,” warns the statement.
The UN Global Compact, defined as “a global platform which convenes companies together with UN agencies, labor and civil society”, allows “notable human rights violators to participate” and helps them “to boost their image and profits, instead of promoting binding obligations that would contribute to changing companies’ performance.” This alliance “gives the false impression that the UN and transnational companies share the same goals,” warns the signatory organizations.
In the way to Rio2012, the corporate pressure eased by the UN partnerships with the International Chamber of Commerce and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development led to a draft of outcome declaration that “reinforces the role of business as a promoter of the so-called green economy, but completely fails to address the role of business in creating the financial, climate, food and other crises.” The statement asks the UN and its member states to “resist corporate pressure to give business a privileged position in UN negotiations” and “stop setting up new discussion bodies and high-level groups (and dissolve existing ones) that grant” that powerful participation.
It also recommend that “business representatives should not be part of national delegations involved in UN negotiations.” “The UN must disclose all existing relations and links with the private sector” and “a code of conduct for UN officials, including a ‘cooling off’ period during which officials cannot start working for lobby groups or lobbying advisory firms, should be introduced,” adds the text. The United Nations system must also monitor, according to the civil society organizations, “the impacts of corporations on people and the environment and establish a legally binding framework of obligations that can hold companies accountable to environmental, human rights and labor rights law.”
In the meantime, at the thirteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII) held this week in Doha, Qatar, the group of rich economies made up by the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States have sought to impose a mandate on the agency to push developing countries to adopt investor protection and trade policies in accordance with the corporate interests of developed countries, reported the Third World Network.
On the other hand, civil society organizations that participate at Doha have called for the removal of constraints on developing countries’ policy space embedded in free trade and investment agreements, and in conditionalities imposed by donor and international financial institutions. UNCTAD was established to offer analysis and advice to governments on development issues related to trade, finance and technology, among other matters. Its previous conference agreed in Accra to broaden the organization’s mandate. Over the years, analysis produced by UNCTAD consistently pointed out the dangers of the liberalisation and deregulation of markets and finances which produced the current economic crisis.
Source
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