Biodiversity

ENVIRONMENT-PORTUGAL: Nearly Half of All Species Under Threat

By Mario de Queiroz
The fragmentation and destruction of rural habitats due to the construction of motorways, dams and urban centres, the modernisation of agriculture, depredation by human beings and diseases are the main threats to biodiversity in Portugal.

ENVIRONMENT-COLOMBIA: Via Crucis for Endangered Turtles

By IPS Correspondents
Environmental authorities released around 1,200 freshwater turtles that were seized by police in Colombia's Caribbean region in a crackdown to halt illegal sales, which see a boom during Catholic Holy Week.

BIODIVERSITY: Islands – Paradise Invaded

By Mario Osava
Many countries, including Brazil, are only just waking up to the threat that invading species can pose to islands, generally seen as natural paradises and tourist attractions.

BIODIVERSITY: Indigenous Groups Denounce Exclusion from Talks

By Mario Osava
Indigenous leaders are speaking out about their exclusion from talks about a binding regime for regulating access to genetic resources, during the international biodiversity conference that ended on the weekend in this southern Brazilian city.

BIODIVERSITY: Progress at a ‘Multilateral Pace’

By Mario Osava and Haider Rizvi
"That is the multilateral pace," remarked a Brazilian diplomat in response to complaints that the decisions reached at the global biodiversity conference basically postponed concrete actions that environmentalists see as urgently needed in order to save life on earth.

BIODIVERSITY: Billions Needed to Win Race Against Species Loss

By Haider Rizvi
A two-week international conference on biodiversity here came to an end Friday on a mixed note of hope and despair, with some delegates describing the outcome as a moment to celebrate, but others expressing disappointment with the slow pace of progress in talks on how to implement decisions made some 14 years ago.

BIODIVERSITY: Environmentalists, Indigenous People Disappointed by COP8

By Mario Osava
Environmental and indigenous activists are leaving the eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8), which ended Friday in this southern Brazilian city, with a sense of disappointment, because of the absence both of practical decisions and of their participation in key negotiations.

ENVIRONMENT: Int’l Cooperation Weak on Ocean Fisheries

By IPS Correspondents
With a quarter of all ocean fish stocks now depleted, policy-makers and conservation groups say it is critical to bring more countries on board an international treaty on sustainable fisheries management.

BIODIVERSITY: No Patents Without Local Consent, Delegates Urge

By Haider Rizvi
Delegates from developing countries attending an international conference on biodiversity here are demanding changes in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules which deal with patenting of genetic resources, such as seeds, plants and animals.

BIODIVERSITY: Synergy Between the Rio Conventions

By Mario Osava
The concept of promoting synergy between the three "Rio Conventions" on the environment gained strength at the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8), which ends Friday in this city in southern Brazil.

BIODIVERSITY: A Name as Means of Protection

By Haider Rizvi
While no government is disputing the idea that in order to protect biodiversity a universal index of all known species is needed, many wonder if such a task is possible without sufficient financial support from rich countries.

BIODIVERSITY: Putting the Gene Back in the Bottle

By Haider Rizvi
When 150 of the world's leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the historic Earth Summit 14 years ago, they agreed to embrace the principle of fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of genetic resources as part of global efforts to protect biodiversity.

BIODIVERSITY: Activists Disagree on Economic Aspects of Benefit-Sharing

By Mario Osava
Access to genetic resources and the equitable distribution of the benefits derived from their use are the most controversial issues being discussed in Brazil by the 3,600 delegates from 173 countries attending the largest conference ever on biological diversity.

BIODIVERSITY: Creating a Network Against Biopiracy

By Mario Osava
Two patents granted in the United States between 2000 and 2002 and another for which an application has been filed have put "maca", a high altitude Andean plant that is used by indigenous people in Peru, at the centre of a new battle against biopiracy, which involves the construction of an international network against the misappropriation of traditional knowledge.

BIODIVERSITY: Brazil’s Lula Lashes Out At Rich Nations

By Haider Rizvi
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva Monday castigated the wealthy and technologically advanced countries of the world for failing to live up to their responsibility in tackling poverty and environmental degradation on the planet.

BIODIVERSITY: “This Is About Life on Earth”

By Haider Rizvi
Hundreds of ministers, policymakers, scientists and civil society activists are attending a major international conference on biodiversity in the environmentally-friendly Brazilian city of Curitiba.

BIODIVERSITY: Terminator Seeds Suffer Defeat at Global Conference

By Mario Osava
Small farmers and activists celebrated a triumph against Terminator seeds in Brazil Friday, but said they would not let down their guard, and would continue to fight the seeds.

BIODIVERSITY: U.S. Cuts Funding to Key Environment Programme

By Haider Rizvi
The United States' intention to partially withdraw its financial support for global efforts to protect the environment is worrying experts and policymakers attending a major international conference here on biodiversity.

ENVIRONMENT: NGOs Warn About Genetic Contamination

By Julio Godoy
The European Commission's (EC) most recent decisions on genetically modified crops have condemned the continent's farms to transgenic contamination, say environmental groups consulted by Tierramérica.

BIODIVERSITY: A New Ethics Needed to Save Life on Earth

By Mario Osava
Affect, care, cooperation and responsibility are the four central principles of a new ethics that humanity urgently needs to adopt, in order to avoid becoming extinct as "a victim of itself," Leonardo Boff, one of the founders of liberation theology, said Thursday.

BIODIVERSITY: Bird Flu Also Threatens Rare Mammals

By Haider Rizvi
The threat of avian flu is looming over a wide range of species, including rare and endangered ones, warned experts attending a two-week international conference on biodiversity here.
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