New supranational environmental institutions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the ‘green’ World Bank, reflect attempts to regulate international flows of ‘natural capital’ by means of an approach I call ‘green developmentalism’. These institutions are sources of eco-development dollars and of a new ‘global’ discourse, a postneoliberal environmental-economic paradigm. By the logic of this paradigm, nature is constructed as a world currency and ecosystems arc recoded as warehouses of genetic resources for biotechnology industries. Nature would earn its own right to survive through international trade in ecosystem services and permits to pollute, access to tourism and research sites, and exports of timber, minerals, and intellectual property rights to traditional crop varieties and shamans' recipes. I contend that green developmentalism, with its promise of market solutions to environmental problems, is blunting the North-South disputes that have embroiled international environment...

Selling Nature to save It? Biodiversity and Green Developmentalism

It reflects solely the views of its authors. The views, conclusions, and recommendations are not intended to represent the views of the Commission. The views of the Commission are laid out in the Commission's final report "Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making". Executive Summary iii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Biodiversity 1 Status of the world's freshwaters 2 Status of the world's biodiversity 3 Large dams 6 The value of biodiversity 7 Chapter 2 Patterns of freshwater biodiversity 9 Longitudinal gradients 10 Latitudinal gradients 10 Moist-arid gradients 10 'Hotspots': areas rich in species and endemics 10 Phylogenetic and ecological diversity 14 Alien (exotic) species 14 Chapter 3 Impacts of dams on biodiversity 15 Species movements up and down stream 15 Movement of matter up-and downstream 16 Lateral impacts 17 Upstream 18 Downstream 23 Water basin connections 25 Estuarine and marine impacts 25 Interaction with non-dam impacts 27 Summary of dam impacts 27 Cumulative effects 39 Dam effects relative to other sectors 40 Prospects for freshwater biodiversity 40 Chapter 5 Impacts of dams vis à vis standards 47 Chapter 6 Recommendations on dams and biodiversity 49 Avoid areas of high biodiversity. 49 Minimise impacts of dam projects 49 ii Enhance situations at extant dams 50 Use of landscape management 50 Environmental standards 51 Chapter 7 Beyond dams: other solutions 53 Acknowledgements 54 References 55 iii Executive summary Although occupying a smaller area compared to land and oceans, freshwaters are home to a relatively high proportion of species, with more per unit area than other environments (10% more than land and 150% more than the oceans). While only about 45,000 species of freshwater animals, plants and microorganisms have been scientifically described and named, scientists estimate that at least an additional million more species remain to be named. Freshwater biodiversity is unevenly distributed. High numbers of species or endemics are found, for example, in the Amazon, Congo, Nile and Mekong basins. Such species-rich areas are called 'hotspots' and dominate other patterns or trends. Already human uses of freshwater threaten the survival of freshwater, brackish, coastal and terrestrial biodiversity. The global level of threat for mainly terrestrial vertebrates is 11-25%, while for freshwater groups it is 13-65%. While this paper focuses on the impacts of large dams on freshwater biodiversity, the significant effects of large dams on terrestrial biodiversity should not be overlooked. About 60% of the world's river flow is regulated. There …

Biodiversity impacts of large dams

The role of PGR in historic agro-food orders conservation policies under the New Deal and the Nazi regime hybrids and plant patenting the control over PGR by seed multinationals controversies on PGR and neoliberalism in Chile and Colombia.

The Exploitation of Plant Genetic Information: Political Strategies in Crop Development

Biodiversity has been considered a strategic element due to, among other reasons, its potential as a raw material provider to many industry sectors. Nevertheless, the increasing degradation of the environment threatens this potential and therefore the urgency in promoting sustainable development. Motivated by this context, many companies are adopting, as part of their competitive strategies, the sustainable use of biodiversity so as to take advantage of new technological opportunities open in the environmentally responsible products market. Thus, the purpose of the present paper is to analyze how some Brazilian companies are using the potential of biodiversity as part of their competitive strategies in order to create favorable market asymmetries. It also acknowledges the advantages and limitations concerning this strategy. To illustrate these opportunities, this work presents the case of four national companies which work in the Brazilian environmentally responsible products market, focusing on phytoterapics, cosmetics, natural extracts and forestry. This study has pointed out that incorporating sustainable development principles does not seem to be simply a temporary strategy, but a strong tendency especially to industry sectors highly dependent on biodiversity as a raw material. Other issues addressed include the relevance of innovation to the generation of new proceedings and technologies as well as the importance of the conformation of a solid institutional environment.

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Oportunidades tecnológicas e estratégias concorrenciais de gestão ambiental: o uso sustentável da biodiversidade brasileira

Although it is customary to treat diplomacy as a state function carried out solely by official representatives whose activities are guided by an over-arching foreign policy, this article presents a more expansive concept of diplomacy and of sovereignty in order to encompass the growing influence and interaction of unofficial groups in the formulation of international environmental agreements, namely multinational corporations acting through non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Searching for agreement on international rules of conduct inevitably involves discussion, negotiation, tradeoffs and pursuit of interest, whether collective or individual. Consequently, interaction among interested groups and states in international and regional organizations creates a complex, multi-layered and multi-dimensional worldwide web of interaction and influence which is suffi-

Environmental Diplomacy of States, Corporations and Non-Governmental Organizations: the Worldwide Web of Influence

The Convention on biological diversity was drafted with in mind the conservation of the world's natural resources, their sustainable use and the equal sharing of their benefits. Among the primary utilisers of these natural resources is industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry and many more. This short guide addresses the business community by describing which sections of the Convention appeal directly to the private sector and how the private sector can involve itself to ensure that the natural resources on which it too depends for its livelihood will be available for generations to come.

David Stone

Papers

Business and Biodiversity: A Guide for the Private Sector