CBD/COP 7 : Kuala Lumpur, 9-20 February 2004

Convention on Biological DiversityConvention on Biological Diversity

Seventh Conference of the Parties (COP7)

The seventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD/COP7) and the first Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 9th to 27th February 2004.

Practical Action (then ITDG) was there. These pages were updated throughout the conference with documents and links relevant to the proceedings at CBD/COP7 and MOP1, including regular updates and background to the issues.

More about the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Conference of the Parties

Papers

Towards Better Practice in Protected Areas and Technology Transfer ~289k
A collection of good national level case studies, best and worst practices and lessons learned in Protected Areas and Technology Transfer, the main topics to be addressed at COP-7. The insights, experience and expertise of NGOs presented in this booklet provide a complementary perspective to official decisionmaking and policy-setting. Includes an Practical Action case study on Tsetse fly traps.
Presented at Technology transfer and agricultural biodiversity event
Report on Technology Transfer event from UKabc website

2004: the Year of Livestock Keepers Rights?
A summary of October's International Meeting of Indigenous Livestock Breeding Communities in Nairobi, to be presented at CBD/COP7. Practical Action East Africa and the League for Pastoral Peoples facilitated this four-day workshop for representatives of indigenous livestock keeping communities.

Sustaining Agricultural Biodiversity
A summary of NGO actions since 1996, and an agenda for action on GMOs, trade, intellectual property rights, biopiracy and genetic resource conservation and development.

Agricultural Biodiversity: Farmers Sustaining the Web of Life acrobat3.gif (887 bytes) ~194k
Practical Action-Farmers World Network Briefing paper on agricultural biodiversity - an input into the CBDC/SEARICE Farmers Technical Workshop, 10th to 13th February.

Events

Technology transfer and agricultural biodiversity
Thursday 12 February 2004, organised by Practical Action
Kampung Space, 13:00-14:30

This lunchtime event was an opportunity to discuss the COP 7 Technology Transfer agenda with special reference to the sustainable use of
agricultural biodiversity. Yoke Ling from TWN, Hope Shand from ETC group and Isabella Masinde from Practical Action led a discussion with delegates including local and indigenous peoples, chaired by Patrick Mulvany of Practical Action.

  • Chee Yoke Ling (TWN)
    Technology Transfer & the CBD
  • Hope Shand (ETC Group/RAFI)
    Bad Corporate Practice
  • Isabella Masinde (Practical Action Eastern Africa)
    Good Community Practice
  • Discussion

Documents

Practical Action was also at the following events:

Terminator, GURTs and their Impact on Small Farmers
Monday 9 February 2004, organised by ETC Group
A presentation exploring the proposed uses of Genetic Use Restriction Technologies for preventing geneflow and the impacts of these technologies on small farmers and biodiversity. ETC group

System-wide Genetic Resources Programme Management of Agricultural Biodiversity for Sustainable Development: Towards a Research Agenda
Wednesday 11 February 2004, organised by CGIAR, Johor Kedah
Exploring how better to mobilize efforts to provide the knowledge base needed for improved use of agricultural biodiversity. The outputs of a recent meeting organized by the System-wide Genetic Resources Programme of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research were presented as well as key concerns of agricultural biodiversity workers in different countries and of NGOs working in the field. Speakers included Isabella Masinde and Anil Subedi of Practical Action.
CGIAR System-wide Genetic Resource Programme website

Global Biodiversity Forum 19 - Livelihoods, Poverty, and Biodiversity; Technology Transfer and Capacity Building with Equity; and the Value of Biodiversity for Securing the Future
The forum aims to link the biodiversity agenda more concretely with the sustainable development agenda (MDGs, WEHAB, etc.) and provide input into CBD COP on how to ensure that its agendas and workplans contribute effectively both to conservation and development.
GBF 15 report on agricultural biodiversity

Marine Biodiversity and Coastal Fishing Communities: Recognizing Rights and Defining Obligations Wednesday 11 February 2004, ICSF
Including presentations on Impact of TRIPS and CBD on Coastal Fishing Communities, Community-based Management Initiatives: Achievements and Challenges, Under the Sun: The Transient Fisherfolk of Jambudwip.
Article on GM fish from Aliran

Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge: Briefing on WIPO-CBD Cooperation Thursday 12 February 2004

International Treaty on PGRFA Thursday 12 February 2004

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Eco newsletter

ECO is the NGO newsletter for COP7, issued daily.

ECO issues from CSOs @ CBD SBSTTA9, Montreal, 10 - 14 Nov 2003

ECO has been published by the NGO (nongovernmental organisation) community at most Conferences of Parties of the International Environmental Conventions. It is currently being published by the NGO community around the seventh Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia coordinated by Environment Liaison Centre International. The opinions, commentaries, and articles printed in ECO are the sole opinion of the individual authors or organisations, unless otherwise expressed.

Background and related pages

Sustaining Life and Livelihoods: The Global Commons
Practical Action pages on the context of the debate about biological diversity.

  • Sustaining Agricultural Biodiversity
    A summary of NGO actions since 1996, and an agenda for action on GMOs, trade, intellectual property rights, biopiracy and genetic resource conservation and development
  • Preserving the Web of Life
    The fast-disappearing varieties of crops, livestock breeds and aquatic organisms threaten the planet’s web of life. Urgent action is needed to restore this vital component of biodiversity so essential to food security and ecosystem integrity.
  • Agricultural Biodiversity

International Meeting of Indigenous Livestock Breeding Communities
27-30 October 2003, Nairobi, Kenya
Practical Action East Africa and the League for Pastoral Peoples facilitated a four-day workshop for representatives of indigenous livestock keeping communities. Karen Commitment on on pastoralist/indigenous livestock keepers' rights, agreed at the workshop UKabc website

Practical Action at CBD/COP 8 March 2006
The eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD/COP8) is being held in Curitiba, Brazil from 20-31 March 2006.

Practical Action at CBD/COP6 April 2002
The sixth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD/COP6) met in The Hague from 7-19 April 2002. Practical Action was there, calling on governments to reassert the importance of agricultural biodiversity and take a tough line on the spread of GM crops, patenting, pollution and terminator technologies.

  • Genetic contamination threatens a vital reservoir for plant breeding
    Practical Action joins the call for an immediate moratorium on the release of living modified organsisms for food, feed and processing in those regions that form part of the crop centres of origin and diversity for that species.
  • "Biodiversity is not for sale": NGO Statement to CBD/COP6
    At the opening plenary of CBD/COP6 on 8th April 2002, Patrick Mulvany of Practical Action presented a statement urging the Conference of the Parties to assert the vital importance of biodiversity to the Earth Summit, and to take a tough and clear stance on the spread of GM crops and genetic pollution.
  • Goverments called to defend the Global Commons
    Practical Action is calling on the Conference of the Parties (COP6) to put agricultural biodiversity, farmers' rights and biosafety at the heart of the Convention on Biological Diversity at their meeting in The Hague.
  • see also CBD/COP5

Practical Action and Agricultural Biodiversity at the Earth Summit August 2002
The World Summit on Sustainable Development - the Earth Summit - was held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 26 August to 4 September 2002.

Technology Transfer and Development August 2002, Johannesburg
Practical Action presented a session at the Peoples' Global Forum Commission on Science and Technology, which formed part of the formal NGO report to the World Summit on Sustainable Development

World Food Summit: five years laterWorld Food Summit: five years later June 2002
In 1996 nations at the World Food Summit made commitments to eradicate hunger. Heads of government and international organisations met in Rome in 2002 to review progress since 1996, outline the measures needed to reach goals and mobilise the political will to increase progress.

Genetic Futures in Food and Farming 27 March 2002
A joint Practical Action and UK Food Group Seminar in advance of COP 6 built on the call of Farmers in the CBD's May 2000 meeting in Nairobi to put farmer-centred agricultural biodiversity and genetic resources policies at the centre of the CBD agenda.

Practical Action at CBD/COP 5 Nairobi, May 2000
The Global Biodiversity Forum 15 report from the Nairobi COP 5

External links

Convention on Biological Diversity: COP7 official website
including a list of official side events

UK agricultural biodiversity coalition
For further information on CBD/COP7 visit the web site of the UK agricultural biodiversity coalition (UKabc). UKabc website

ENB Linkages - daily reports from the COP and MOP

Regular reports also appear on www.biotechimc.org and www.foei.org/cbd/.

Community Kampung - venue for Practical Action's side event on Technology Transfer and Agricultural Biodiversity

BRIDGES Trade BioRes V.4 #2 February 2004
The latest issue of BRIDGES contains information relevant to the ongoing discussions at the CBD/COP7, including an article specifically addressing some the trade issues under discussion.

Managing Agricultural Biodiversity for Sustainable Development
Workshop held in Nairobi, 23-25 October 2003.

Links to press coverage on CBD/COP7:

World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002
A framework for Action on Agriculture
WEHAB paper on agriculture.
A framework for Action on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management
WEHAB papers on biodiversity.

CSOs @ CBD SBSTTA9, Montreal
Eco newsletters from the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biological Diversity, meeting in Montreal, 10-14 November 2003.

The use of genetically modified crops in developing countries

On the Sunday between Christmas and New Year, the Nuffield Bioethics Council published its revised report on GM crops (an update of the 1999 version) ?The use of genetically modified crops in developing countries?.

Reaction to the Nuffield report:

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