Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 2 • Number 19 • 11th December 2002

TRADE ISSUES SPILLING OVER INTO WETLAND NEGOTIATIONS

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TRADE ISSUES SPILLING OVER INTO WETLAND NEGOTIATIONS

On 18-26 November, Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands met in Valencia, Spain, for their eighth Conference (COP-8) to discuss "Wetlands: Water, Life, and Culture". Trade-related considerations, while not traditionally discussed widely within Rasmar, penetrated many of the negotiations, including on agriculture, traditional activities related to wetland conservation and use, and invasive species.

Trade features in discussions on wetland use and agriculture

Discussions on trade-related agreements and the WTO negotiations arose throughout the Ramsar COP in various issue areas. During the debate on "Guiding Principles on the cultural values of wetlands", views diverged on whether to include language specifying that traditional activities related to wetland conservation and wise use should be "consistent with the WTO requirements", as proposed by Australia and New Zealand. Countries reached a compromise to not refer to the WTO in the final resolution, but to instead encourage Parties to take into account, as appropriate, intellectual property rules in accordance with rules of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), when compiling and assessing cultural elements related to wetlands and water. During negotiations on the resolution on the "Wise Use of Wetlands", countries could not agree on including specific reference to trade-related agreements. Instead, the final resolution simply urges Parties to continue the review of the existing legislation and practices in order to identify and remove perverse incentives.

Regarding agriculture and wetlands, delegates agreed to include language requesting Parties to ensure that activities and measures do not support agricultural policies that are inconsistent with trade-related agreements. The Philippines and Malaysia had made efforts to keep such references out of the resolutions, arguing that WTO negotiations and negotiations within the context of MEAs should not be intermixed. Other countries, including Australia and New Zealand, were also reluctant to include clear references to trade-related issues that are currently under negotiation at the WTO, such as agriculture.

Deadlock on invasives resolved

The increasing importance of trade-related considerations and the spill-over of contentious issues from one negotiating forum to another were also evident during discussions on invasive species (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 21 November 2002). A proposal table by the EU to include a reference in the Ramsar resolution to the decision on alien invasive species adopted at COP-6 to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) had evoked strong opposition from Australia, Brazil and the US, who believed that the CBD decision was not valid (see below). In the end, Parties adopted compromise language proposed by IUCN-The World Conservation Union referring to "any relevant guidelines adopted under other conventions". In the final plenary, however, Parties requested that the meeting’s report reflected the positions and statements of the Parties.

During the CBD COP-6, Australia had opposed the adoption of the Guiding Principles on alien invasive species due to concerns that the supposedly ambiguous language on the precautionary approach and references to socio-economic and cultural considerations in the context of risk management might result in conflicts with obligations under trade agreements. In particular, Australia expressed concern that these references could provide a cover for countries to implement measures that were inconsistent with the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). Although the decision was adopted in the plenary by the chair and two co-chairs, Australia supported by the US stil argues that the decision is not valid.

Additional resources

For daily coverage, see http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/ramsar/cop8/.

ICTSD reporting; ENB Vol 17 No.18, 29 November 2002; "Ramsar Convention moves forward on agriculture" IUCN, 20 November 2002.