biodiversity | biopiracy


Resistance to UPOV and the privatisation of life in Costa Rica
Interview with Silvia Rodríguez Cervantes of Costa Rica's Biodiversity Coordination Network about the national struggle against joining UPOV (Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties) as required by CAFTA.
Panellists see high impact of bilateral trade deals on Geneva policymaking
A panel of government and non-governmental experts on intellectual property and biodiversity issues last week stressed the high impact that leading economies' bilateral free trade negotiations are having on multilateral policymaking in Geneva.
Costa Rican lawmakers debate FTA law
The Board of the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly admitted that it is studying 943 of 1,097 motions against one of the implementation laws of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States which poses danger for Costa Rican farmers and biodiversity
World Trade Organization accession agreements: intellectual property issues
This paper addresses intellectual property issues that arise in the context of the WTO accession process
CAFTA in Costa Rica would cause deepening inequality
CAFTA is a legal instrument that favors multinational expansion without limits, leaving the most underprivileged sectors of Costa Rica totally unprotected, among them women and the poor. The strong movement against ratification of CAFTA will not end with the approval or rejection of the agreement on 7 October 2007, but could well be the seed of broader social transformation.
Open letter to the Prime Minister of India on the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture
Given the interest generated with regard to the US-India nuclear deal, it is time to express our concerns on the US-India Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture, too, and not let it be implemented in a business-as-usual attitude.
Costa Rica: Indígenas reclaman consulta sobre Convenio de Obtenciones Vegetales
Con un recurso de amparo ante la Sala Constitucional, los pueblos indígenas reclaman nuevamente su derecho a ser consultados debidamente sobre el Convenio de la Unión para la Protección de Obtenciones Vegetales (UPOV 91).
Japan digs its claws into biodiversity through FTAs
The Japanese government is increasingly using free trade agreements (FTAs) to tighten corporate control over seeds and other forms of biodiversity that are crucial to food, agriculture and medicine. Two such deals sealed this month with Chile and Indonesia put Japan in the big league of nations using bilateral deals to make seed-saving on the farm a thing of the past.
JPEPA: The Philippine fall into the IPR bilateral trap
The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement poses serious questionable intellectual property provisions which ultimately undermine the rights of Filipino farmers, communities and the public in general.
SK reportedly agrees to nix testing US genetically modified crops
South Korea has reportedly exempted US foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from safety tests in the Korea-US free trade agreement struck on April 2, a move that Korean environmentalists criticised as the government "selling off" the health of the nation.