Mercury ban agreed – Global treaty to control neurotoxin
Global treaty to control neurotoxin
OVER 120 nations have agreed to have legally binding measures to control the pollution by mercury, a neurotoxin. Formal negotiations for the treaty will begin in 2010.
The agreement, reached at the 25th session of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme (unep) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, is a change from previous years, when major powers, including the US, China and India, sought voluntary reductions. On February 18, they agreed to consider the binding treaty.
Some countries, including India, had earlier said a legally binding agreement is not necessary for unintentional mercury emissions. It was supported by China and Indonesia.
“Switzerland agreed that different mechanisms were necessary for unintentional and intentional emissions, but stressed that all mercury emissions must be addressed under the legally binding measures,”
said Prashant Pastore of Toxic Link, Delhi-based non-profit, who attended the meeting. Continue reading »
Filed under Environment, News, Pollution | Tags: Developing Countries, European Union (EU), India, Kenya, Mercury, Pesticides And Toxins | Comment (0)Pyrrhic Victory
The US steals Kamal Nath’s party in Geneva
The trade talks at the World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva collapsed in the last week of July. The Union minister for Commerce, Kamal Nath, said India would not accede to the demands of developed countries at the cost of Indian farmers. Nath seems to have become a hero in many quarters in the country and in other developing countries—and a villain amongst developed countries for allegedly scuttling free trade negotiations. But in reality, he has virtually complied with all conditions of the wto agriculture text, including almost zero farm subsidy reduction by developed countries. And the talks actually collapsed because the us did not want to make any commitment to cut massive subsidies to cotton growers. Continue reading »
Filed under Agriculture, India, News | Tags: * Imports, Agriculture, Cotton, Developing Countries, Farmers, India, Subsidies, Switzerland, Trade, United States Of America (US), WTO | Comment (0)On Tenterhooks in Geneva – Developing countries push for markets at WTO Mini-Ministerial
Developing countries push for markets at WTO mini-ministerial
Farmers’ associations all over India were holding protests demanding exclusion of agriculture as an agenda in the World Trade Organization (wto) talks, even as the organization’s mini-ministerial debated ways to secure “meaningful market access in agriculture, manufacturing and services”. At the time this magazine went to press, farmers’ groups were apprehensive that the Union minister for commerce might sign a deal at this meet in Geneva allowing the entry of cheap agricultural products from the developed world. “That would be the last nail in the coffin of small farming in India,” said Sheelu Francis of the Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective, an organization representing over a lakh agriculture workers in the state.
The draft for negotiations for the Geneva ministerial—the third draft on the matter—did not accede to most demands of developing countries, the principal one being substantial cuts in subsidies offered to farmers in the us and European Union. These subsidies end up lowering prices of agricultural products in the developed countries below the production cost of farmers in developing countries, giving the former unfair market advantage. Continue reading »
Filed under Agriculture, Environment, India, News | Tags: * Imports, Agriculture, Developing Countries, European Union (EU), Farmers, Food Security, India, Subsidies, Trade, WTO | Comment (0)