Japan biodiversity meet adopts rules on GM crop damages

TOKYO (AFP) – An international meeting on biodiversity held in Japan Friday agreed on rules which hold businesses liable if genetically modified organisms they have imported pollute ecosystems, a report said.

The meeting on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety reached agreement ahead of the major Convention on Biological Diversity which opens in the Japanese city of Nagoya on Monday.

The protocol holds business operators liable if genetically modified (GM) organisms which they had imported from other countries or companies pollute ecosystems and risk human health, Kyodo News said.

The protocol will open for signatures at the UN headquarters from March. The accord takes effect 90 days after 40 countries and regions ratify it.

Japan hopes to ratify it in autumn next year after obtaining parliamentary approval, Kyodo said, citing government officials.

Talks on compensation for damage caused to ecosystems by GM organisms began in earnest in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in 2004.

The international biodiversity conference opening on Monday, which includes more than 190 countries and NGOs, is due to discuss how to pay for the "equitable sharing" of the benefits from natural resources.

The talks will also discuss a fresh target on preserving animal and plant species that are disappearing mostly as a result of human activity.

Species under threat include 21 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of known amphibians and 12 percent of known birds, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Scientists warn that wildlife habitat destruction is destroying ecosystems that give humans "environmental services" such as clean water and air and are vital for climate control and food production.

EU environment agency calls for 'ecosystem pricing'

Published: Wednesday 29 April 2009

With the EU failing to achieve its ambitious target of halting biodiversity loss in Europe by 2010, the bloc's environment agency is calling for protection measures to be integrated into agricultural, forestry and fisheries policies, and goods and services to be priced according to their true impact on the environment.

"External pressures on biodiversity are not uniform or held in place by geographical designations, and we must not focus all our efforts on preserving islands of biodiversity while losing nature everywhere else," Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environment Agency (EEA), told a conference on biodiversity protection on 27 April.

The current price of goods and services "does not reflect their impact on the ecosystems that sustain them," according to the agency. The EEA believes "better ecosystem accounting, which indicates the real value of the natural capital that we deplete through our economic activity," is necessary. The agency is urging the EU to integrate biodiversity and ecosystems into key sectors like agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

At the conference, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso confirmed the results of last year's progress report on the implementation of the EU's Biodiversity Action Plan , which revealed that the bloc is not even close to achieving its target of halting biodiversity loss in the EU by 2010 (EurActiv 17/12/08).

According to the report, 50% of all species and up to 80% of habitat types in need of protection in Europe have "unfavourable conservation" status, which indicates species decline. The same goes for over 40% of European bird species.

"We are running up debts against the future of the planet that we will never be able to repay," said Barroso, referring to the destruction of nature as "the ultimate toxic asset".

Barroso presented the EU executive's new "seven-point plan for nature protection," which highlights the need to better communicate why biodiversity and healthy ecosystems matter, and how they underpin economic, social and cultural well-being.

The Commission president also urged member states to implement existing EU legislation, citing the Birds and Habitats Directives as examples. The EU must also "agree on new policies to address deforestation and to reduce the EU's ecological footprint," he added.

BirdLife International welcomed "the strong calls made by key decision-makers" to put an end to the loss of animal and plant species, but lamented the apparent "huge gap between aspirations and real action". It also deplored the fact that the conference's message remained "vague", and was not ambitious enough regarding the policy reform required.

The 'European Habitats Forum' - comprising 17 conservation NGOs - presented the conference with its recommendation for the EU's 'post-2010' biodiversity policy. The forum is calling for a complete reform of all EU sectoral policies which have adverse effects on the environment, to support the resilience of ecosystems. It is also urging the bloc to adopt new legislation on soil conservation and reducing invasive alien species.

EurActiv

EU survey reveals poor state of biodiversity

Published: Tuesday 14 July 2009 | Updated: Wednesday 22 July 2009

Only a small proportion of species and habitat types protected under EU law have 'good' conservation status, a European Commission report shows, urging member states to strengthen their efforts to protect biodiversity. Meanwhile, NGOs are pointing the finger at the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the current state of affairs.

The EU executive described the report , which covers the conservation status of over 1150 species and 200 habitat types for the period 2001-2006, as "the most comprehensive survey of EU biodiversity ever undertaken," providing "invaluable reference point for measuring future trends".

Grasslands, wetlands and coastal habitats are the most threatened, the report reveals. While coastal habitats are under increasing strain from tourism, wetlands are being converted to other uses and are suffering the effects of climate change.

The conservation status of grasslands, mainly associated with traditional agriculture, along with other agricultural habitat types fared "significantly worse" than other habitats. 76% of agricultural habitats were given an 'unfavourable' conservation status (of which 54% were given 'bad') compared to 60% (of which 30% 'bad') of habitats not associated with agriculture.

Only 7% of farm-related habitats were described as 'favourable' compared to 21% for non-agricultural habitats. According to the Commission, this is "mainly due to the decline of traditional patterns of agriculture," the shift towards more intensive agriculture, land abandonment and poor land management.

Poor reporting

While the Commission hailed national reporting as "a great success", the status of some 13% of regional habitats and 27% regional species remains 'unknown'. Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Portugal reported that over 50% of the species recorded in their territories are of 'unknown' status.

Assessing the marine environment proved to be particularly tricky, with 57% of the marine species assessments and about 40% of the marine habitats assessments classified by the EU executive as 'unknown'.

Environmental NGO WWF stressed that "you cannot protect what you do not know," urging the Commission to take effective sanctions against "massive under-reporting," delays and misreporting at national level.

CAP to blame?

According to environmental NGOs, the report shows that decades of intensive agriculture and effectively unregulated fisheries are responsible for the critical state of Europe's natural resources.

Ariel Brunner, agriculture policy officer at BirdLife International, regretted that despite recent major reforms, the CAP is still failing to support so-called "high natural value" traditional farming, instead primarily subsidising intensive cereal farming and livestock factories. "We need to get more farmers to adopt sustainable farming models," he said.

He further stressed that the post-2013 CAP reform needs to link the system of direct payments to public goods. Even the most intensive farms can benefit from a little more biodiversity, as squeezing the land only leads to soil erosion and depletion of groundwater, jeopardising overall food security, Brunner argued.

Debate over rewarding farmers for the public goods they deliver (landscape, pollination, biodiversity) is set to figure in negotiations on the future CAP (EurActiv 03/06/09).

EurActiv

Nature 'services' undervalued, EU report finds

Published: Monday 16 November 2009

The cost of nature conservation is by far outweighed by societal and economic benefits, argues a new report supported by the European Commission and published on Friday (13 November).

The report urges international policymakers to scale-up investments in the management and restoration of ecosystems and to value the economic capital of nature in decision-making.

It was prepared by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB ) initiative, which is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The report stresses that destruction of nature has direct economic repercussions which are systematically underestimated, and that valuing ecosystems makes "economic sense".

To increase protection of biodiversity, it argues that a price tag should be put on nature's different ecosystem services to make them visible to economies and society as a whole.

According to the authors, the lack of market prices for ecosystem services and biodiversity means that the "benefits we derive from these goods [which are often public in nature] are often neglected or under-valued in decision-making," leading to policies that result in biodiversity loss and negatively affect human well-being.

Country-specific policy mixes

The report underlines that there is no one solution, as each country's economy relies on nature in a different way and countries already have different sets of policies in place.

Meanwhile, "the policy response should not be limited to environmental policymaking processes, but should also come from other sectoral policies," the report stresses.

It invites politicians to first consider what ecosystem and biodiversity means for a given economy and then evaluate current policies to identify potential improvements.

Reforming global subsidies to reward ecosystem services

The report stresses that it is necessary to rethink the allocation of the one trillion dollars or so of annual global subsidies that are handed out to the agriculture, fisheries, energy, transport and other sectors.

Some of these subsidies, which together represent over 1% of global GDP, are inefficient, outdated and harmful to the environment and should be freed up to reward "the unrecognised benefits" of ecosystem services and biodiversity, it argues.

Protecting the seas

Study leader Pavan Sukhdev, a senior banker at Deutsche Bank who is currently at the UNEP leading the agency's Green Economy Initiative, said the report shows that societal benefits of nature conservation and protected areas far outweigh the cost of conservation.

He stressed the need to improve protection of marine environments in particular. Currently, under 0.5% of open seas and under 6% of territorial waters are protected, compared to 13% of land-based protected areas.

While mankind has learned to manage land, "we still behave like hunter-gatherers at sea," he said, with annual losses of potential fisheries output estimated at $50 billion due to unsustainable fishing.

Sukhdev argued that protected area networks should be expanded to cover 15% of land and 30% of seas.

While this would cost some $45 billion a year in management, compensation for direct costs and expenditure on acquiring new land, the areas "would deliver goods and services with a net annual value of $4.5-5.2 trillion," he said.

The report offers evidence that protected areas are "in society's best interests." Local, national and global public benefits outweigh by far the costs and opportunity costs of conservation, it says, making "a compelling economic case for conservation for world governments to consider," said Sukhdev.

Addressing losses through regulation and pricing

However, expanding protected area coverage with payments for ecosystem service schemes and reforming subsidies "will never be enough to halt continuing losses," reads the report.

These measures need to be accompanied by "a coherent strategy to make the full costs of loss visible and payable" for all.

The basic principles of such a policy design should be based on the two key principles of 'polluter pays' and 'full cost recovery', the report notes.

For this, the potential of environmental regulation needs to be fully exploited in the form of "prohibitions, standards and technical conditions" and the value of ecosystem services need to be accurately priced through "taxes, charges, fees, fines, compensation mechanisms and/or tradable permits" as part of wider fiscal reform in favour of biodiversity.

EurActiv

Environment minister: Production of transgenic food in Peru should be controlled

Peru's environment minister, Antonio Brack said Wednesday that the production of transgenic food in Peru should be controlled with the aim of preserving native species such as the Giant White Corn from Cusco, a product having high demand in international markets.

"We have a great concern in Peru over the corn. We have fifty-five types of corn, including the purple and giant white corn from Urubamba (Cusco), which enjoys considerable success in foreign markets. Transgenics may contaminate our biodiversity", Brack said.

Brack added that the long-term impact of transgenic seeds on Peruvian soil should be studied and although transgenic crops are not banned, they must be regulated as soon as possible.

"This regulation is a matter of discussion at present. Should we use transgenic crops or continue producing organic foods while protecting our rich natural resources”, he wondered.

Transgenic products are those resulting from crops that have been genetically modified.

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Perú - MINISTRO BRACK: “LA COMPETITIVIDAD DEL PAÍS ESTÁ EN LOS ALIMENTOS ORGÁNICOS”

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La demanda mundial de alimentos orgánicos representa para el Perú ingresos económicos que superan los 800 millones de dólares al año, beneficiando a 30 mil productores quienes exportan unas 200 mil toneladas de sus productos cultivados tradicionalmente y de manera competitiva, afirmó hoy el Ministro del Ambiente, Dr. Antonio Brack, al clausurar el Foro Nacional “Alimentos Transgénicos: ¿Viabilidad o no en el Perú?”, en el Congreso de la República.

El Perú es uno de los países que cuenta con prácticas de la agricultura ancestral y una oferta bien recibida en Europa y Estados Unidos. La agricultura orgánica ofrece una producción sana y segura de alimentos sin abonos químicos, plaguicidas u otros compuestos sintéticos, y exige la rotación de los cultivos para fortalecer el suelo, tanto en su estructura como en su fertilidad.

En ese sentido, nuestro país tiene 10 mil años de experiencia en biotecnología, con más de tres mil variedades de papa, maíz morado y algodón de color. Se calcula que en flora, contamos con unas 25000 especies (10% del total mundial) de las cuales un 30% son endémicas. La población utiliza unas 5 mil especies, en diversos usos: alimentos, medicinas, ornamentales, para madera y construcción, forrajes, tintes y colorantes, entre las más importantes.

También el Perú es uno de los países más importantes en especies endémicas de aves con 115 especies, 109 de mamíferos, 185 de anfibios, 58 de mariposas, y de unas 300 especies de orquídeas. Igualmente contamos con 84 zonas de vida, con una alta diversidad de culturas al contar con 14 familias lingüísticas y al menos 44 etnias distintas. Lo más importante es que estos pueblos indígenas poseen conocimientos respecto a usos y propiedades de especies, diversidad de recursos genéticos y las técnicas de su manejo.

Si bien con las nuevas tecnologías pueden aumentar el valor de la biodiversidad, también puede causar desorden genético, “por lo que tenemos la responsabilidad de preservar nuestro patrimonio para las generaciones futuras, y la decisión de hacer negocios con nuestros cultivos milenarios”, acotó el Ministro del Ambiente.

Los transgénicos (trasladar un gen de un lugar a otro), generalmente se han aplicado en plantas como la soya, el maíz, tabaco, canola, tomate, algodón, papaya, zapallo, melón, arroz, entre otros. “Hoy en día los peligros químicos y microbiológicos de los organismos genéticamente modificados en una papa, por ejemplo, son factores nutricionales que debería demostrarse si hacen daño o no al consumidor”, expresó la Dra. Flora Luna, representante de la Asociación Médica Peruana, y activista de la Plataforma Perú Libre de Transgénicos.

Entre las recomendaciones que se vertieron en el foro, se encuentra la realización de estudios de bioseguridad, incluir los organismos genéticamente modificados en los etiquetados, impedir el uso de los biofármacos, respetar los compromisos asumidos en el Convenio de Diversidad Biológica y el Protocolo de Cartagena, monitorear los movimientos fronterizos, y apoyo a las investigaciones sobre los organismos vivos modificados.

Según Wayne Parrott, catedrático e investigador de la Universidad de Georgia (EEUU), en el año 2000, el mundo contaba con 6 mil millones de habitantes, correspondiéndole 2,2 hectáreas por persona. Estima que para el 2020 habrá 7 mil millones de habitantes y la distribución será de 1,8 hectáreas por persona. Lo que significa que se debe tener en cuenta el componente ambiental, social y económico; esto para mantener la viabilidad en el campo, evitar la migración rural a la ciudad y el abandono de los cultivos tradicionales.

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