Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 30 • 4th September 2003

Events

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For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch.

ICTSD Events

5-7 September, Cancun, Mexico: 18TH GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FORUM - BIODIVERSITY, TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. This session of the GBF is jointly organised by ICTSD, IUCN, SEMARNAT, CEESP and others. The GBF is a mechanism to bring together governmental and non- governmental representatives to foster dialogue and information sharing on key biodiversity issue. Key issues to be addressed will include: The relationship between the TRIPs Agreement and CBD; risk, precaution and biosecurity; and trade and sustainable livelihoods. For further information, see: http://www.gbf.ch/present_session.asp?no=31&lg=EN.

11-12 September, Cancun, Mexico: CANCUN TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT SYMPOSIUM. The Conference seeks to provide a platform for intellectual enquiry and dialogue on issues related to trade and development and to address key concerns afflicting development in the trade policy arena. The main objective of the CTDS is to encourage innovative thinking on issues related to trade and development to be translated into inputs for negotiations. For further information, contact: ICTSD, Bernice Lee; tel: (41-22) 917-8492; fax: 917-8093; email: tds@ictsd.ch; Internet: http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/cancun/tds/index.htm.

Events at Cancun

ICTSD maintains a webpage compiling events — organised by civil society groups, international organisations etc. — that will take place around the fifth WTO Ministerial conference in Cancun. To access this information, visit http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/cancun/events.htm.

Other Events Coming Up: 4 - 24 September

25 August - 5 September, Havana, Cuba: UNCCD COP-6. The Sixth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification will consider a number of issues, including: the designation of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) as a financial mechanism of the CCD; feasibility and possible terms of reference of the regional coordination units; activities for the promotion and strengthening of relationships with other relevant conventions and international organisations; and follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development. For further information visit: http://www.unccd.int/cop/cop6/menu.php. For daily updates by IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin, visit: http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/desert/cop6/.

4-5 September, Hamburg, Germany: CONFERENCE ON POST-2012 CLIMATE POLICY OPTIONS: EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES. Organised by the Hamburg Institute of International Economics, this conference is part of a global conference series in the framework of the project "Developing a post-2012 policy architecture". Different policy scenarios will be discussed. To register, email: climate@hwwa.de. For more information visit: http://www.hwwa.de/Projekte/Forsch_Schwerpunkte/FS/Klimapolitik/PDFDokumente/hwwa-ws9-03.pdf.

4-6 September, Honolulu, Hawaii, US: CLIMATE POLICY AFTER MARRAKECH: TOWARDS GLOBAL PARTICIPATION. The conference will bring together experts from governments, academia, business and NGOs. They will discuss recent developments in climate policy and initiatives around the globe, as well as actions and policy frameworks to comply with the Kyoto protocol. The aim is to widen participation and to further international climate negotiations. For further information please contact Penny Higa, tel: +1 808 944-7131; fax: +1 808 944-7380; email: higap@eastwestcenter.org; Internet: http://ewcraq1.eastwestcenter.org/~marrakech/.

4-6 September, Geneva, Switzerland: CONGRESS ON SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT IN ACTION. Organised by the University Center of Geneva for Human Ecology and Environmental Sciences, this congress will present concepts, strategies, practical tools, technological innovations in sustainable management, as well as results, outstanding examples and future development. There will also be workshops on themes such as sustainable mobility, environmental management systems and sustainable financing. To submit abstracts and for more information, contact Beat Burgenmeier, email: Beat.Burgenmeier@ses.unige.ch; Internet: http://ecoluinfo.unige.ch/colloques/SMIA03/Announcement5_en.htm.

6-7 September, Helsinki, Finland: UNU WIDER INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SHARING GLOBAL PROSPERITY. This UN University World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) conference will focus on ways to increase the global economy’s benefits to poor countries and poor people. Among the topics addressed are: innovative sources of development finance; private capital flows and foreign aid; international trade and foreign investment; and the development impact of globalisation. For further information contact: WIDER Secretariat; tel: +358-9-615-9911; fax: +358-9-615-99333; e-mail: wider@wider.unu.edu; Internet: http://www.wider.unu.edu/conference/conferences.htm.

8-17 September, Durban, South Africa: FIFTH WORLD PARKS CONGRESS - BENEFITS BEYOND BOUNDARIES. The congress occurs once each decade and is sponsored by the IUCN. It provides the major global forum for setting the agenda for protected areas. Previous congresses have had a tremendous impact in assisting national governments to create new protected areas, and direct more resources towards biodiversity conservation. For further information contact: Peter Shadie, IUCN Programme on Protected Areas, tel: +41 22 999 0159; fax: 999 0025; email: pds@iucn.org; Internet: http://wcpa.iucn.org/wpc/wpc.html.

10 September, Geneva, Switzerland: THE FIFTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE OF THE WTO IN CANCUN, MEXICO: WHY SHOULD CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES BE CONCERNED? This event is organised by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches. For more information, please contact: Rogate Mshana, tel: +41 22 7916031; or Athena Peralta, tel: +41 22 7916336.

11 September, Hong Kong, China: FINANCING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. This conference is organised by Global Knowledge Ventures and the Business Environment Council of Hong Kong, and seeks to find an interactive, practical and commercial approach to financing Sustainable Development in Hong Kong and China. For more information contact: Peter Castellas; tel: +613-9754-1862; email: pcastellas@gkv.com.au; Internet: http://www.enviroseries.com/2003/fsd/index.html.

11-14 September, Linz, Austria: LABOUR AND NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN A GLOBALISING WORLD SYSTEM. At this conference, discussions will attempt to tie together the workers movement and globalisation in policies, organisation and culture. For further information on this event, please go to: http://www.ith.or.at/konf_e/call_2003_e.htm or contact Berthold Unfried at berthold.unfried@univie.ac.at.

16-18 September, Cartagena, Colombia: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS. This conference is organised by the Friends of the Earth International (FOEI), the Transnational Institute (TNI), Oilwatch and Friends of the Earth Colombia (CENSAT Agua Viva). International experts on environmental issues and human rights issues will discuss inter alia: the impact of war on environmental rights and human rights; human rights violations of environmental activists; impunity for environmental crimes; and ecological debt of Northern countries to the South. For further information contact the conference organisers at tel: +571 244 24 65; fax tel +571 337 77 09; email: conferencia_ddhh@censat.org; Internet: http://www.censat.org, or http://www.foei.org.

18 September 2003, London, England: POWER AND POLITICS IN CANCUN, REACTIONS TO THE 5TH WTO MINISTERIAL. The World Development Movement (WDM) will host a conference to discuss the outcome of the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference. The meeting will bring together speakers directly from inside the negotiating rooms and outside the streets, including Yash Tandon, (African delegate to the WTO) and Carmen Diaz (Jalisco Ecologist Collective). For further information visit: http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaign/cancun03/powpol.htm.

WTO Events

An updated list of forthcoming WTO meetings is posted at: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/meets.pdf. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. Unless otherwise indicated, all WTO meetings are held at the WTO, Centre William Rappard, rue de Lausanne 154, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland, and are open to WTO Members and accredited observers only.

10 - 14 September, Cancun, Mexico: WTO FIFTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE.

Other Forthcoming Events

29-30 October, Rüschlikon, Switzerland: BEYOND CARBON - EMERGING MARKETS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. This initiative is organised by Forest Trends, the Katoomba Group and Swiss Reinsurance. The conference will promote the development of markets, trading and financial mechanisms that recognise the value of the environmental services of ecosystems. It will aim to expose participants to the thinking of leading practitioners and innovators in the field of environmental service finance. The conference will aim to bring together drivers of innovation from the business, financial and regulatory worlds, public opinion leaders and the NGO community. For further information, please contact James Congram, tel: +41 1 704 88 12; email: James_Congram@swissre.com.

6-8 November, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba: INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP ON ENVIROMENT, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL IDENTITY. The objective of the workshop is to foster discussion of the main problems concerning environment, sustainable development, and cultural identity, in the face of the challenges of a globalised world. The workshop will cover inter alia: environment and development; tourism and cultural identity; and current problems caused by globalisation. For further information contact: Ana Victoria Knaggs, email: knaggs@fie.uo.edu.cu or universityoriente@eresmas.net.