Third intervention from NGOs
in support of a ban on GE trees
May 26 - 2008
Thank you Mr. President, Greetings
Excellencies:
I speak today on behalf of Global
Forest Coalition, which is a coalition of NGOs and Indigenous Peoples
Organizations from 6 continents, as well as Global Justice Ecology
Project. I also speak on behalf of the STOP GE Trees Campaign, which
includes 137 organizations in 34 countries around the world-including
public interest scientists, foresters, geneticists and many in the
very communities threatened by the release of genetically engineered
trees.
The position of these organizations,
scientists and foresters around the world, as well as the unified
position of the NGOs and IPOs present here is for an immediate stop
to the release of genetically
engineered trees.
In addition, we are pleased to
note that the European Parliament, in their resolution of 24 April,
in preparation for these COP-MOP meetings, urged the Commission and
the Member States to: "agree a
moratorium on the environmental release, including field trials and
commercial use, of genetically modified trees."
We want to strongly support the
suspension of any release of GE trees as supported by the Africa Group
and many other Parties. This is the only decision that makes sense
due to the unassessed, irreversible and potentially disastrous impacts
of transboundary contamination from GE trees on forest biological
diversity, forest dependent and indigenous peoples and women, as well
as soils, water and even the climate.
Because of the threat of irreversible,
transboundary contamination from genetically engineered trees, the
Convention on Biological Diversity is clearly mandated to adopt the
first paragraph and suspend future plantings of GE trees.
This is not an issue that can
wait for the next Convention of the Parties. By then it may be too
late. In two years, there could already be large-scale releases of
GE trees, which would likely be already causing many of the serious
and irreversible impacts of which we have previously spoken.
Thank you.
--
Anne Petermann
Co-Director
Global Justice Ecology Project
P.O. Box 412
Hinesburg, VT 05461
+1-802-482-2689 ph/fax
+1-802-578-0477 mobile
globalecology@gmavt.net
