---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 16:21:03 -0500 From: Antonia Juhasz <antonia at igc.org> To: Chris O'Brien <chrisobrien at coopamerica.org>,
Antonia Juhasz <antonia at americanlands.org>,
Forest Pacrim <forest-pacrim at igc.topica.com>, forest-americas at igc.org Subject: A GFLA at the U.N.? Call Clinton Today
TO: Forest Activists FROM: Antonia Juhasz, American Lands Alliance DATE: February 4, 2000 RE: The Global Free Logging Agreement at the United Nations? Call the Clinton Administration Today and Keep Trade Attacks on Forests out of the U.N. International Forum on Forests.
Because the WTO negotiations in Seattle were successfully frozen in their tracks, those looking to expand trade in forest products and reduce forest protections have had to broaden their gaze beyond the WTO. They are now looking to other trade forums, agreements and negotiating bodies to achieve their trade liberalization ends.
One such potential forum is the United Nations Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). The IFF was created to write an international forest protection agreement. Unfortunately, the process has been hijacked by those who consider forests a commodity to be traded rather than a resource to be protected.
The IFF is currently in its final days of negotiations in New York City. As I write this alert, several governments are trying to include free trade language that would threaten forests and forest protection efforts in the text of the agreement. For example, one proposal reads: "The IFF supports continued efforts by countries and the WTO towards trade liberalization, [and in that regard, encourages countries to conduct environmental reviews of trade agreements], with special attention given to removing remaining and emerging trade restrictions which constrain market access, particularly for value added forest products." Our translation: "The IFF supports the Global Free Logging Agreement at the U.N."
Although the US Government has been very helpful in blocking threatening trade language over the last few years, negotiations have now entered the high-stakes final rounds where political games of "chicken" are played and critical trade-offs are made with little warning.
It is unclear what the US Government's bottom line is on the inclusion of free trade language at the IFF. Therefore, we urge all forest activists to call the Clinton Administration TODAY before the text is finalized.
Call DAVID SANDALOW, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Scientific Affairs at (202) 647-8745 and JAN MCCALPRIN, Senior Forest Officer at (202) 647- 4799. Tell them that you support the US negotiating team's attempts to block the inclusion of trade liberalization language in the IFF text. You hope that the IFF process will remain "Trade Free" with the soul intent of protecting forests around the world. Thanks for your help!
For more information, contact Antonia Juhasz at mailto:antonia at americanlands.org or (202) 547-9230.