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biodiversity | biopiracy

No renegotiation on Thai-Japan trade deal
27-Feb-2007 The Nation
Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram told a powerful Japanese business association on Monday that Thailand would not renegotiate on any issues in the controversial economic agreement with Japan.
Coup-installed govt seeks Japan’s approval via rushed trade pact
24-Feb-2007 Bangkok Post
Despite an earlier announcement that all signing and negotiating of free trade agreements would be halted, the government of Gen Surayud Chulanont bit its tongue yet again, with the issuing of a cabinet resolution on Feb 20 stating its readiness to go ahead with the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA).
Govt orders more FTA talks
21-Feb-2007 Bangkok Post
The Thai cabinet yesterday instructed officials negotiating the Thai-Japanese Free Trade Agreement not to sign any deal without further talks with Tokyo to clear the air on issues like toxic waste imports and the patenting of micro-organisms.
NGOs fear there’s a hidden agenda in Japan FTA
17-Feb-2007 The Nation
Khao-Kwan Foundation chairman Day-cha Siripatra said the country would lose several hundred billion baht a year if the government allowed Japan to patent micro-organisms.
Policy space for Mexican maize: Protecting agro-biodiversity by promoting rural livelihoods
16-Feb-2007 GDAE
With maize trade scheduled to be fully liberalized under NAFTA in 2008, many farm groups are calling for a renegotiation of the treaty’s agricultural provisions to prevent further damage. This analysis examines the room for alternative policies in Mexico under existing economic and environmental agreements, including NAFTA. It concludes that the Mexican government retains access to many useful policy instruments that could promote rural livelihoods while arresting the losses of important maize diversity. What is lacking is the political will to make use of them.
NLA lobbied hard to back FTA deal with Japan
15-Feb-2007 Bangkok Post
The Thai Foreign Ministry is lobbying hard for the National Legislative Assembly’s support for a free trade area (FTA) agreement with Japan
Activists want waste provisions to be removed from agreement
12-Feb-2007 Bangkok Post
Activists have called on Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly to remove trade in waste and micro-organism patenting from the Japan-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Japan-Thailand FTA (JTEPA): draft chapter on intellectual property
3-Feb-2007
Gender review of the Economic Partnership Agreements
21-Dec-2006 IGTN
Paper presented to the European Commission in Brussels by Liepollo Lebohang Pheko from IGTN-Africa on the gender impacts of liberalization of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA).
Free trade and bio-prospecting: Opportunities for Peru
10-Nov-2006 Living in Peru
Opportunities to develop bio-prospecting in Peru are on the rise. This article describes the initiatives and proposals that have paved the way towards this development on the basis of current legislation. The Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA) with the United States contains potentials for this goal.
Bush free trade plan puts Amazon up for grabs
13-Oct-2006 Bush Greenwatch
The Bush administration is quietly pressing for a free trade agreement with Peru that will put the Amazon rainforest - often described as one of the earth’s lungs - on the chopping block.
BIO-IPR: Draft EU-Eastern and Southern Africa EPA
27-Sep-2006 GRAIN
A recent draft of the EPA between the EU and 16 Eastern and Southern Africa countries gives a taste of what these treaties might spell out in terms of rights to local biodiversity and traditional knowledge.
FTA paves way for biopiracy
15-Sep-2006 Latin America Press
Under CAFTA, indigenous heritage becomes intellectual property for the United States.
FTA means deeper poverty in Peru
17-Aug-2006
An issue that has received less attention is the implications of the FTA for the entry of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) into Peru.
Implications of Colombia’s integration into Plan Puebla Panama
2-Aug-2006 Scoop
From July onwards, Colombia will form part of the one-sided geopolitical mega-project that seeks to consolidate the neoliberal model in the western Latin America with the aim of privatizing highway infrastructure, public services and natural resources.
Bilateral free trade and investment agreements and the US corporate biotech agenda
3-Jun-2006
Bilateral free trade agreements are seen by the agricultural biotechnology industry as an important conduit for spreading genetically modified organisms (GMOs) around the world.
Court asked to throw out FTA with Australia
25-May-2006 Bangkok Post
FTA opponents yesterday asked the Constitution Court to annul the Thai Australian Free Trade Area agreement (Tafta) on the ground that the Thaksin government entered into it unconstitutionally two years ago.
Beans for Lima: Activists are fighting a new agreement between the US and Peru
12-May-2006 Grist Magazine
What are the environmental impacts of the Peruvian-US free-trade agreement?
Biodiverse nations urged to join forces
30-Apr-2006 Bangkok Post
Thailand stands to lose even more valuable genetic resources if the country signs the Free Trade Area agreement with the United States in its present form. The FTA would allow the US easier access to Thailand’s genetic resources, said Tewolde Berhan, an Ethiopian expert on biodiversity.
The US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA): The intellectual property provisions
26-Mar-2006 USTR
Report of the US government’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (ITAC-15)