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This section provides a link to all of the pre-sessional official documents (available in the six UN official languages), the information documents (available in English only) and the notifications by the Executive Secretary to Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations pertaining to the meeting. This section provides a link to all of the pre-sessional official documents (available in the six UN official languages), the information documents (available in English only) and the notifications by the Executive Secretary to Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations pertaining to the meeting.

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COP 8 Press Coverage

Tuesday, April 04, 2006
  Biodiversity: No Patents Without Local Consent - Delegates
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Delegates from developing countries attending an international conference on biodiversity here are demanding changes in the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on patenting of genetic resources, such as seeds, plants and animals.
 
  Progress at a ‘Multilateral Pace'
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Apr 1 (IPS) - "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.
 
  Indigenous Groups Denounce Exclusion from Talks
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Apr 3 (Tierramérica) - 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.
 
  DENR TRAINS GUNS ON 'BIOPIRATES'
  MANILA, APRIL 3, 2006 (STAR) By Perseus Echeminada - Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes is seeking global action against "biopirates" who steal indigenous biological resources to be used as components in medicines and beauty products. In a message delivered during the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil, Reyes sought to forge an agreement with other countries that would govern access to and sharing of indigenous biological resources.
 
  COP8 decides to recommend that the UN protect marine biodiversity
  Pinhais (Paraná) - The 188 delegations to the 8th Conference of the Parties (COP-8) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, decided to recommend that the United Nations (UN) establish a moratorium on practices that have a negative impact on biodiversity in marine areas outside national jurisdictions. Deep-sea fishing is one example. Environmental activists tried to get the COP to regulate this matter.
 
  ‘Zim taking action on bio-diversity’
  ZIMBABWE is taking concrete action to review and further integrate bio-diversity considerations in the development and implementation of the three Rio Conventions and national sustainable development through the ecosystem approach to biodiversity conservation, Minister of Environment and Tourism Cde Francis Nhema has said. He was speaking in Curitiba, Brazil at the 8th Conference of Parties for the Convention of Biological Diversity.
 
 
Monday, April 03, 2006
  Greenpeace calls the Summit for Life on Earth a Failure
  Curitiba, Brazil, March 31st 2006: As the two-week long world summit on biodiversity drew to a close, Greenpeace described the outcome as major failure - a missed opportunity to stop the global loss of life in the world's forests and oceans.
 
  No Patents Without Local Consent, Delegates Urge
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 31 (IPS) - 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.
 
  Environment is an investment for development
  Environment is an investment for development, says Achim Steiner at the Convention on Biological Diversity Ministerial Meeting. The need to incorporate biodiversity concerns into development, including agriculture, health, trade and poverty alleviation: That was the overarching theme of the High-level Segment of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
 
  BIODIVERSITY: Environmentalists, Indigenous People Disappointed by COP8
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 31 (IPS) - Environmental and indigenous activists are leaving the 8th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8) with a sense of disappointment, because of the absence both of practical decisions and of their participation in key negotiations.
 
  Swift Action Needed to Protect Biodiversity: Critics
  CURITIBA, Brazil -- Dozens of countries tried to hammer out agreements on Friday on the last day of a U.N. conference to protect biodiversity but fell short, leaving critics to complain more action is needed to prevent widespread loss of plant and animal species.
 
  U.N. Environmental Conference in Brazil Ends with Few Advances
  RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A U.N.-sponsored environmental conference ended Friday with disappointment for environmentalists who saw the contentious issue over how to compensate indigenous communities for genetic resources shelved until 2010.
 
 
Friday, March 31, 2006
  COP-8 is moving towards agreement on genetic resource use access
  Pinhais (PR) - On Wednesday (29) night, the first step was taken towards a future international system to regulate access to the use of genetic resources and the division of the rewards derived from this use.
 
  PanAfrica: The Benefits of Biodiversity - Winners And Losers
  Indigenous peoples and peasant farmers who have helped develop the world's plant genetic resources through their traditional knowledge say negotiations aimed at the commercial exploitation of plants must involve them from the very start. But their demands have turned into a long-running dispute over sovereignty, national boundaries and ownership of knowledge. As the Curitiba meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) draws to a close, the men and women who nurture the world's biodiversity have struggled to make their voices heard.
 
  Synergy Between the Rio Conventions
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 30 (IPS) - 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. Ahmed Djoghlaf and Hama Arba Diallo, the executive secretaries of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), respectively, announced Thursday the intention of expanding joint programmes and extending them to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
 
  UN biodiversity conference has few results; marine reserves launched
  Curitiba - With the clock running out for many animal species facing extinction, experts at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Curitiba Thursday showed themselves disappointed by few presentable results shortly before the end of the 12-day meeting.
 
  Africa suffers 36 cases of biopiracy
  A recent report detailing 36 cases of bio-piracy in Africa has been creating ripples at international meetings negotiating a fair deal for developing countries to benefit from their genetic resources and traditional knowledge.../Published by the US-based Edmonds Institute with the collaboration of the African Centre for Biosafety based in South Africa, the report was released at a meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which discussed international rules to regulate bioprospecting and ensure fair and equitable benefits to countries and communities that provide biological resources and associated traditional knowledge.
 
  A Name as Means of Protection
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 30 (Tierramérica) - 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. Though the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) has been discussed in the past, the issue is back on the international agenda, taken up last week at the 8th meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8), running until Mar. 31 in this environmentally friendly city in southern Brazil.
 
  Cross-Border Parks Form Havens for Biodiversity
  CURITIBA, Brazil - Huge nature reserves that stretch across national frontiers are being formed in Asia, South America and elsewhere, a sign that biodiversity has joined security and immigration as a border issue. More than a dozen countries at the 8th UN conference on the Convention on Biodiversity in Brazil this week agreed to set up transnational parks or linked national parks in the jungles of Borneo, the steppes of Central Asia and the Pacific Ocean islands of Micronesia.
 
 
Thursday, March 30, 2006
  Biodiversity conservation may help reduce the impacts of natural disasters
  As ministers meet at the Eighth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-8), the United Nations University (UNU) urges governments to incorporate the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) findings in national planning processes and poverty reduction strategies to promote ecosystem services that may help reduce the extreme effects of natural disasters.
 
  PanAfrica: From Curitiba to African Farms, Spreading Biosafety Knowledge
  Although Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have long been a hot topic at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil, most farmers in Africa are still ignorant about GM products, presenting an information challenge for African policymakers.
 
  BRAZIL: Palau's Remengesau Presents Micronesian Challenge
  Palau’s President Tommy Remengesau made a presentation on the Convention on Biological Diversity in Brazil, regarding the proposed initiative that aims to protect marine and terrestrial areas in Micronesia.
 
  Putting the Gene Back in the Bottle
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 29 (IPS) - 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.
 
  NGOs want native forests to be included in carbon credit trade system
  Pinhais (Paraná) - On Friday (24), the fifth day of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention (COP-8), the Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for the Environment and Development (FBOMs) issued a document with practical suggestions on how to deal with the relationship between climate changes and forest destruction.
 
  Andean network debates international cooperation to combat biopiracy
  Pinhais (PR) - Exchanging information and acting in networks are essential for preventing and combatting the non-authorized use of genetic resources and the traditional knowledge associated with these resources. That is why, on Monday (27), the Andean Network to Combat Biopiracy sponsored a parallel debate on the 6th day of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention.
 
  Snail Slows Down Pace of New Zealand Coal Mine
  CURITIBA, Brazil - In the latest battle between big business and biodiversity, the fate of a unique small, brown snail that lives in a place called Happy Valley on the west coast of New Zealand hangs in the balance.../Many countries facing similar challenges are meeting at the 8th United Nations conference on the Convention on Biodiversity in Brazil this week to discuss ways of slowing the pace of biodiversity loss by 2010.
 
  Developing Nations Look for New Ways to Fund Environmental Protection
  CURITABA, Brazil — Urgent steps are needed to save the world's ecosystems from destruction, nearly 100 cabinet ministers agreed at a U.N.-sponsored environmental conference. But the question remained: Who will pay for it?
 
 
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
  Will money save our wildlife?
  As delegate after delegate at the ongoing 8th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pleaded for more funding to help conserve biodiversity, one was left wondering if money was going to save our wildlife. The Indian delegation too said that lack of funds was a severe constraint. A number of big NGOs agreed.
 
  Pacific island nation creates huge marine park
  CURITIBA, Brazil (Reuters) - A tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean has created the world's third-largest marine reserve, as global efforts to preserve biodiversity widen to include everything from insects to fish to forests.
 
  Borneo rainforest to be protected; massive oil palm plantation canceled
  Today Indonesia announced its would end plans to establish a 1.8 million hectare oil plantation in the rainforest of Borneo. The proposed plan, which was backed by Chinese investments, would have destroyed one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), some 361 species of animals have been discovered on the island in the past decade, including a mysterious fox-like creature spotted last year. Indonesia, in partnership with the other governments that share the island of Borneo–Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia–made the announcement to protect the "Heart of Borneo" at the Convention on Biological Diversity, a United Nations-backed meeting presently underway in Curitiba, Brazil.
 
  Activists Disagree on Economic Aspects of Benefit-Sharing
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 28 (IPS) - 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. An international regime to regulate access and benefit-sharing (ABS) is doomed to failure because it is based on false premises and fails to take into account basic economic principles, argue some of the participants in the Mar. 20-31 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8), in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba.
 
  Island states agree conservation goals
  Leaders from a number of island nations around the world, meeting at the UN biodiversity conference in Curitiba, Brazil, have agreed significant conservation commitments to protect the future of islands. The President of Palau, Tommy Remengesau, announced agreement on the Micronesia Challenge last night. This aims to protect 30 per cent of near-shore marine and 20 per cent of terrestrial resources on the islands by 2020.
 
  'Biodiversity' Jamboree in Brazil
  Once again, at the U.N. green gathering at the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Curitiba, Brazil, scientific experts are warning of mass extinction in the making. At the last summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002, they issued the same warnings, highlighting the need to reduce greenhouse gases as well. Who paid attention then? Were these admonitions followed by actions?
 
  Island Nation Creates Third Largest Marine Park
  CURITABA, Brazil — A tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean has created the world's third-largest marine reserve, as global efforts to preserve biodiversity widen to include everything from insects to fish to forests. President Anote Tong of the Republic of Kiribati announced the formation of the park Tuesday at the 8th United Nations conference on the Convention on Biological Diversity under way this week in Brazil.
 
  EU Calls for Global Ban on Bottom Trawling to Prevent Harm to Ocean Life
  BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union called for a global ban Tuesday on bottom trawling calling the random fishing practice harmful to the biodiversity of oceans. Speaking at a United Nations conference on biological diversity in Curitiba, Brazil, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, "We should put in place an interim prohibition of destructive fishing practices in international waters, including bottom trawling."
 
 
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
  "This Is About Life on Earth"
  Curitiba, BRAZIL, Mar 25 (IPS) - 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.
 
  la attacks rich on environment
  Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has criticised richer countries for not providing enough money to help preserve the variety of life on Earth. President Lula made his comments while opening the ministerial meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
 
  Forum calls for ocean protection
  Protecting the Earth's oceans represents one of the biggest challenges facing delegates from more than 100 nations gathered in Brazil for a UN-sponsored conference on biological diversity.
 
  Brazil Plans to Expand Amazon Protection
  President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva blamed industrialized nations for the "unsustainable patterns of production and consumption." "It is unacceptable that poorer nations continue to suffer the main burden of environmental degradation," the Brazilian leader told cabinet ministers from more than 90 countries. His remarks came at the opening of three days of high-level talks at the eighth biannual Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity, sponsored by the United Nations.
 
  Research centres, international agencies join to save biodiversity
  New York, Mar 27 2006: Research centres and international agencies today joined forces to boost technical and policy skills for saving biodiversity in developing countries under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Under an agreement signed in the Brazilian city of Curitiba where the CBD is holding its key biennial meeting, the institutes will use their expertise to help developing countries substantially reduce their rate of loss of species by 2010, a target which was set four years ago at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in South Africa.
 
  Creating a Network Against Biopiracy
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 27 (IPS) - 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.
 
  Syrian minister to learn about sanitation system in São Paulo
  São Paulo - The minister of Local Administration and Environment of Syria, Helal Alatrash, arrives today (28) in São Paulo to learn about the sanitation system in the state. Alatrash, who landed in Curitiba, capital of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, to participate in the Convention about Biological Diversity, is going to visit the São Paulo State Company for Sanitation and Technology (Cetesb) and the São Paulo State Sanitation Company (Sabesp).
 
  Research centres, international agencies join to save Earth’s biodiversity
  27 March 2006 – Research centres and international agencies today joined forces to boost technical and policy skills for saving biodiversity in developing countries under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
 
  Heart of Borneo: Conservation vision gives hope to treasure island
  Curitiba, Brazil – The “Heart of Borneo” conservation initiative was officially launched today with the three Bornean governments – Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia – declaring their commitment to support it. The tri-country initiative aims to preserve one of the most important centres of biological diversity in the world, including approximately 220,000km2 of equatorial forests and numerous wildlife species.
 
  tries Call for Global Moratorium Against GE Trees
  On Wednesday, 22 March, delegates from countries around the world raised the call for a moratorium on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Eighth Conference of the Parties in Curitiba, Brazil.
 
  NZ speaking with a forked tongue over Terminator
  The decision at The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to fully support continuing a moratorium on Terminator Technology is to be congratulated. But New Zealand's support for the consensus, given in a press release by the Minister for the Environment is undermined by ongoing official denial that the de-facto moratorium on Terminator established in 2000 even exists.
 
  'Terminator' GM technology stays banned – for now
  Calls for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to end its six-year moratorium on the planting of infertile genetically modified (GM) crops have been rejected. On Friday (24 March), a CBD working group rejected a proposal to allow field trials of the crops, which produce sterile seeds, on a "case-by-case" basis.
 
  INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT JOINS FORCES IN CONSERVATION EFFORTS
  CURITIBA: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) designed to help build capacity to conserve and enhance biological diversity around the world was signed by the UK's Biodiversity Minister in Brazil last night.
 
  Analysis: Bird flu threatening wide range of animals
  UNITED NATIONS -- United Nations officials warn that bird flu is a potential threat to biological diversity and a wide range of species including rare and endangered animals. Experts attending a conference of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil, said on Wednesday that there is growing evidence that the H5N1 virus can infect cats, mammals and 80 percent of migratory and non-migratory birds. The CBD is administered by the UN Environment Program.
 
  Ministers meet at the COP-8 to halt loss of biodiversity
  Brasília - Ministers of environment are assembled in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba at the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention (COP-8). "We are the last generation capable of stopping the destruction of the environment in time," declared the executive secretary of the COP-8, Ahmed Djoghlaf, at yesterday's (27) opening session.
 
  Brazil wants to speed up negotiations over access to genetic resources
  Curitiba - Brazil wants to speed up the pace of negotiations over international rules to govern access to genetic resources derived from traditional and native knowledge, as well as the sharing of economic and non-economic benefits provided by the use of these resources. According to the executive secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Cláudio Langone, the high-level ministerial meeting which began yesterday (27) at the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention (COP-8) should give a push in this direction.
 
  Survival of numerous species at risk
  There is growing danger that the continued spread of bird flu will significantly diminish biological diversity in Africa. According to experts, this is likely to have a devastating effect on human health. The experts, who are attending the ongoing Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Brazil, say that 80 per cent of the known bird species as well as many rare and endangered mammal species are at risk.
 
  Brazil and Sudan strengthen trade relations
  Sudan wishes to strengthen their relations with Brazil, especially in the foods and oil sectors. The statement is by the Sudanese ambassador in Brasilia, Rahmatullah Muhammad Osman, who is in the city of Curitiba for the 8th Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity.
 
  China's pivotal role in laundering illegal timber
  China is central to the laundering of illegal timber from some of the world's most endangered forests, according to a new investigative report by Greenpeace. The trade is driven by domestic and international demand in the USA, Europe, Japan and other developed countries..../ Greenpeace is urging China and the other 187 signatory nations to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), meeting in Curitiba, Brazil this week, to protect the world's last ancient forests up by establishing a global network of protected forest areas, to ban the trade in illegally and destructively logged wood products and to introduce a legally binding mechanism under the CBD to combat illegal and destructive logging.
 
 
Monday, March 27, 2006
  Slow progress at talks on access to biodiversity
  [CURITIBA] Delegates at a major UN conference on biodiversity are struggling to reach a consensus on rules concerning access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and the sharing of any subsequent benefits.
 
  UK COMMITS £8.3M TO BIODIVERSITY PROJECTS AROUND THE WORLD: KNIGHT IN BRAZIL TO SEE IMPACT FIRST HAND
  UK Biodiversity Minister, Jim Knight, is in the heart of the Amazon this weekend seeing first hand work that demonstrates the UK's position as a leader in the international biodiversity arena. In Brazil ahead of international biodiversity talks, Mr Knight is in the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve visiting a Darwin Initiative project which aims to protect precious fish species in the area, whilst safeguarding the livelihoods of local communities.
 
  "We Can't Live Without Ecosystems"
  DW-WORLD.DE spoke with the future head of the United Nations Environment Program, Achim Steiner, about biodiversity issues, the problem of competing interests, and his plans for the future of the organization.
 
  Protecting Endangered Species Helps Reduce Poverty, World Wildlife Fund Study Finds
  Saving endangered species like pandas, gorillas and tigers helps reduce poverty and improve the lives of local communities, according to a new World Wildlife Fund report. Now as the eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity opens today in Curitiba, Brazil, WWF urges the CBD and member governments to integrate species conservation work into efforts to alleviate poverty.
 
  Ban to continue on Terminator seed tech
  Terminated? Some nations and corporates, who were ready to test the `terminator', were insisting on a `case-by-case' assessment of such technologies. This text was rejected in the Convention on Biological Diversity's working group dealing with the issue. It needs to be formally adopted by the plenary of the CBD, which would meet on March 31.
 
  Terminator rejection - a victory for the people
  Curitiba, Brazil, March 24, 2006--A broad coalition of peasant farmers, indigenous peoples and civil society today celebrated the firm rejection of efforts to undermine the global moratorium on Terminator technologies - genetically engineered sterile seeds - at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil.
 
  Greenpeace slams Australia for promoting GMO seeds
  CURITIBA, Brazil (Reuters) - Environmental group Greenpeace criticized Australia on Friday for promoting the experimental use of highly controversial "terminator seeds" derived from genetically modified plants.
 
  NZ welcomes consensus on genetic technology
  New Zealand fully supported the consensus agreement reached last Friday (24 March) in Brazil by the international Working Group on genetic use restriction technologies (GURTs) as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
 
  GM seed stance draws Greenpeace's ire
  Environmental group Greenpeace has criticised Australia for promoting the experimental use of highly controversial "terminator seeds" derived from genetically modified plants. ../Australia, Canada and New Zealand have lobbied hard to reopen discussion of field testing of terminator seeds at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, in the Brazilian city of Curitiba.
 
  Brazil to increase rain forest protections
  CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) -- Brazil announced plans to expand protection of the Amazon rain forest, as cabinet ministers from more than 90 nations arrived for a U.N.-sponsored environmental conference.
 
  Indigenous orgs do not expect progress on knowledge protection
  Pinhais (Paraná) – The protection of traditional knowledge is one of the main themes that have been debated during the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention (COP-8). Approximately half of the 3.6 thousand representatives of 173 countries will be dedicated to studying the subject, starting this Monday (27).
 
  Lula says preservation of biodiversity depends on political will
  Brasília - President Luiz Inácio da Silva participated today (27) in the opening of the high-level meeting of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention (COP-8), in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba. In his address he declared that the preservation of biodiversity on the planet depends mainly on the political will of countries, especially the developed ones.
 
 
Friday, March 24, 2006
  IFC Launches Web-Based Private Sector Guide to Biodiversity
  CURITIBA, Brazil, March 24, 2006 - The International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the World Bank, has launched a Web-based guide to help companies operating in emerging markets understand, manage, and benefit from biodiversity. The launch takes place on the occasion of the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
 
  Biodiversity Forum to Assess Progress Towards 2010
  Curitiba, Brazil, 23 March 2006 (GBF) - The Convention on Biological Diversity sets out what governments intend to do to slow down the loss of biodiversity by 2010. But how does the business sector plan to achieve that goal? What do indigenous peoples do to prevent species from going extinct? And what can NGOs contribute to avoid the biggest ever extinction crisis that the world is facing?
 
  Are We Winning the Race to Stop Biodiversity Loss? -- A Guest Commentary
  With the natural forest loss rate at 13 million hectares a year — about 25 hectares a minute — the race is on to protect what’s left of the world’s forests.../As diplomats and environmentalists gather in Brazil this week at a meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to address the rate at which the world’s natural resources are being degraded and destroyed, they should look to large-scale, multi-partner conservation initiatives as a way to make it to that 2010-targeted finish line.
 
  Bird Flu Also Threatens Rare Mammals
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 23 (IPS) - 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. There is growing evidence that the virus known as "H5N1" can infect and harm rare mammals like leopards, tigers, civets, weasels, badgers and otters, they say. "We are learning very hard lessons from the threatened pandemic," Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the conference, told reporters this week. "The impact on biodiversity and on species may be far wider and more complex than might have been initially supposed."
 
  Local Action for Global Change
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 23 (IPS) - "Community Taba" consists of four Brazilian-style indigenous huts, built of wood and thatch, with earth floors. Inside the biggest and airiest one, small farmers, forest workers, fisherfolk and indigenous people exchange experiences and discuss how best to defend the planet's biodiversity.
 
  Action urgent to protect species, biodiversity conference told
  Rio de Janeiro — Countries around the world must turn talk into action if they are to halt the loss of thousands of plant and animal species each year, mostly because of human activity, Brazil's Environment Minister said Monday..../“For a long time, I have been expressing my concern about the growing number of multilateral environmental agreements that are approved but aren't implemented,” Ms. Silva told the eighth Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP-8.
 
  Re-assert ban on terminator seeds: farmers
  NEW DELHI, MARCH 23: Civil society organisations (CSOs) and farmers’ groups have urged the government not to compromise its stand on terminator seed technology in the ongoing eighth Conference of Parties (CoP-8) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Curtiba in Brazil.
 
  Who Has Access to Biodiversity?
  RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 23 (Tierramérica) - Biologically mega-diverse countries, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, are calling for a binding global policy to regulate who has access to biodiversity. The proposal is up for discussion at an international environmental meeting this week in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, but the goal remains far out of reach. "The negotiation has been difficult and this process could take a couple more years," Hesiquio Benítez told Tierramérica. He is a member of the Mexican delegation to the 8th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8), which will include a draft policy among its agenda priorities.
 
  It’s about time we used those worms
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 23 (IPS) - 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. Emotions and sensitivity are "the essence, the core dimension of the human being," said the Brazilian theologian at a panel on "ethics, biodiversity and sustainability". The panel formed part of the Global Civil Society Forum, held parallel to the Mar. 20-31 Eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8).
 
  A New Ethics Needed to Save Life on Earth
  CURITIBA, Brazil, Mar 23 (IPS) - 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.
 
  Carter to lead delegation to COP 8 in Brazil
  Conservation Minister Chris Carter is to lead New Zealand's delegation to COP 8, the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Curitiba, Brazil.
 
 
Thursday, March 23, 2006
  CBD must maintain moratorium on Terminator technologies
  Curitiba.– Greenpeace today called upon the 188 states at the 8th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to maintain the moratorium on the field trials and commercial releases of Terminator seed technology which was agreed six years ago.
 
  Time to Tap the Creepy-Crawlies
  OSLO -- Worms, bacteria and beetles living below ground are part of the largest and least-known trove of life on Earth that could have spinoffs from farming to pharmaceuticals, a U.N. report said Wednesday.
 
  Peasants Say No to ‘Selling' Traditional Knowledge
  2006-03-23 - CURITIBA, Brazil - Meanwhile, Greenpeace International added another urgent action for saving life on earth: protecting international waters. These announcements were made by the two global movements on Tuesday, at the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP8), taking place in this southern, "ecologically-minded" Brazilian city from Mar. 20 - 31.
 
  Conservation helps poverty - study
  A new report from WWF has highlighted the links between the conservation of endangered species and reducing poverty in local communities, as the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity begins in Brazil. The investigation, which focused on six projects in Africa, South America and Asia, found that working to help endangered wildlife promoted sustainable and fair development, along with working against poverty and hunger.
 
  Soil Biodiversity Key to Environmentally Friendly Agriculture
  Improved crop yields are being enjoyed by some developing world farmers who have turned to soil living bacteria and fungi rather than artificial fertilizers to boost harvests.../Details of the $26 million project will be unveiled at the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity taking place in Curitiba, Brazil.
 
  Greenpeace reaction to Syngenta fine
  Geneva.– Greenpeace today welcomed the decision of the Brazilian Environment Protection Agency IBAMA to fine Swiss Agro-Biotech multinational Syngenta one million reais (386 000 euros) for conducting illegal field trials of GE soy in a buffer zone around the Iguacu Falls World Heritage Site. The organization is confident that a judicial order for the destruction of the genetically engineered plants will also be issued in due time. IBAMA' s decision was announced today at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) taking place in Curitiba, Brazil.
 
  Greenpeace challenges Govt's take on Terminator
  Auckland 23 March 2006 -- Greenpeace today questioned the Government's take on what its policy on Terminator technology actually means. The sterile seed technology is the central point in discussions at an international meeting in Brazil today, and New Zealand, with Canada and Australia, is again under the international spotlight for supporting an anti-environmental position.
 
  New scientific reports document devastating loss of ancient forests
  TORONTO/ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - March 22, 2006) - Two new reports released this week in Canada and at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meetings in Brazil paint an ever-worsening picture of the state of the world's forests and signal an urgent call to protect what remains. The maps and reports, released separately by Greenpeace and Global Forest Watch Canada, reveal that less than 10% of the world's land area remains as intact forests larger than 500km2 and that Canada's southern forests are increasingly fragmented. Intact forests are forest areas that have not been impacted by logging, roading, or other industrial development.
 
  Environmentalists express concern about water in Brazil
  Brasília - Yesterday, on World Water Day, a director of a Brazilian NGO, SOS Mata Atlântica, Mário Mantovani, declared that he is concerned with the quantity and quality of water in the country. Pointing out that water sources in metropolitan regions already face serious problems, he declared: "What these problems mean is that the price of water will increase. Poor people will not have access to water, which is a public good. And there is also the problem with waste.".../Mantovani made his comments at the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biological Diversity Convention.