Your Excellency Mr. Luíz
Inácio Lula da Silva,
President of the Federative Republic of Brazil
Your Excellency Mrs. Marina Silva,
Minister of the Environment
Mrs. Maria Cecilia Wey de Brito,
Secretary of Biodiversity and Forests, Ministry of the Environment
National Technical Committee on Biosafety
(CTNBio)
c/o Chairman Walter Colli
We are writing to express our deep concern
over the research being carried out in your country on the genetic
modification of trees.
Our concern is based, first of all, on
the fact that the genetic manipulation being undertaken is aimed
at consolidating and further expanding a model of monoculture tree
plantations that has already proven to result in serious social
and environmental impacts.
In addition, the use of transgenic trees
will further aggravate the proven impacts on water resources, since
one of the traits that researchers are attempting to introduce is
faster growth, which would mean even greater consumption of water
by tree plantations.
At the same time, research is being undertaken
to introduce genes that would increase the trees’ resistance
to the herbicide glysophate, which would lead to even more serious
social and environmental impacts, including the destruction of local
flora and impacts on human health.
Research is also underway to develop
eucalyptus trees with a higher cellulose content for the production
of ethanol. This would mean reducing the amount of lignin, the component
that provides trees with structural strength, thus making them more
susceptible to suffering as well as causing serious damage during
wind storms.
It is important to note that the last
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
(COP-8) adopted decision VIII/19 (Forest biological diversity: implementation
of the programme of work), which “recommends Parties to take
a precautionary approach when addressing the issue of genetically
modified trees.”
This decision is founded on COP-8’s
recognition of “the uncertainties related to the potential
environmental and socio-economic impacts, including long-term and
transboundary impacts, of genetically modified trees on global forest
biological diversity, as well as on the livelihoods of indigenous
and local communities, and given the absence of reliable data and
of capacity in some countries to undertake risk assessments and
to evaluate those potential impacts.”
We therefore wish to call upon your government
to heed this decision and adopt “a precautionary approach
when addressing the issue of genetically modified trees,”
by ordering the suspension of the research currently underway until
the uncertainties expressed by COP-8 regarding its potential impacts
have been clarified.
Yours very sincerely,
