Global Ban on GM trees
campaign infoletter April 2007
http://elonmerkki.net/forestforum

1.Campaign report and video reportages
2.Summary and conclusion for future work
3. Networking for GM free future

1. Campaign report and videos

Global ban on GM trees campaign was released by three Finnish
non-governemental organisations in January 2004.
The open petition protested decicion made in UN Climate change meeting in Milano to include transgenic trees in their climate toolbox.
This desicion violated the biodiversity and biosafety agreements and
prosesses.
Read the press release: Open petition for the UN condemning genetic
engineering of trees
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/press1.html

UN Forum on Forests

In May 2004 four reperentatives of the campaign were organizing a side
event in UN Forum on Forests in Geneva. Look the press releases:

Genetic engineers (engineering is) like a blind bull in a China shop
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/
press040504.html

Introduction of GM trees is illegal
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/
press170504.html

The campaign also demanded attention for the dangerous and totally
uncontrrolled politics with transgenic poplars in China.

Chinas transgenic poplars cause concern
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/
press101104.html

COP 10 in Buenos Aires

In UN Climate Change meeting December 2004 in Buenos Aires we published and distributed thousand copyes of campaign posters.
Look and print the posters here:
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forestforum/uk/posters/

When thinking the idea of transgenic tree plantation we could compare it
with almost the opposite idea of dealing with plants.
Campaingner and documentarist Hannu Hyvönen visited in permacultural
garden of Jorge Rulli, a widely known long term campaigner and thinker
in Argentina and whole South America.
http://video.elonmerkki.net/video/Jorge-light.mov
http://video.elonmerkki.net/Jorge.mov

Look also videodocumentary of indigenious Mapuche peoples and local
peasants demontstration in the doors of UN meeting against gigantic dam
project .
http://video.elonmerkki.net/video/buenosdemonstration.mov

The article of Kyoto meeting by Hannu Hyvönen can be read here:
http://video.elonmerkki.net/Kyoto.rtf

Un Cartagena meeting in Montreal

In May 2005 campaign was closed in UN Cartagena biosafety meeting in
Montreal. Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher and campaigner Anne Petermann were speaking about the special risks and problems on GM trees in the side event arranged by
People´s Biosafety Associationa and Union of Ecoforestry. Look the
video interview here: http://video.elonmerkki.net/gm-trees.mp4

The biosafety meeting started with electiricity when Canada, the host of
the conference, denied to give a visa to the dr Tewolde, etiopian delegate who is known as one of the leaders of developing countries in these biosafety negotiations. Tewolde got the visa and was on wellcomed also by environmental organisations who were arranging their opening seremonies outside the conference office. Look clips of the openings outside and inside of the biosafety meeting.

http://video.elonmerkki.net/openings.mp4

But why Canada tryed to do this, what was behind that conflict? In this
20 minutes interwiev dr Tewolde gives some answers and glance on global biosafety and biodiversity politics.

http://video.elonmerkki.net/tewolde.mp4

One of the main issues in this meeting was identifying and labelling of
living genetically modified organims, specially under the discussion were
the seeds. Environmental and agricultural non-governemental
organisations presented their worry and examples about the contamination in several side events.

http://video.elonmerkki.net/seeds.mp4

When the national and international mechanisms_ to controll are still
too weak to prevent the contamination there has become activities in many countries to build up GM free zones. These movements were celebrating their victories in a side event in Montreal:

http://video.elonmerkki.net/gm-free-zones.mp4

Most of the countries who have signed the Cartagena biosafety protocoll
would like to have stricht rules for controlling transboundary movement of genetically modified organisms but there was also some two countries who could block this prosess. Environmental organisations expressed their frustration. Clips from the demonstration and comments by Juan Lopez, Biosafety Coordinator of Friends of Earth International and Li Lin Lim, researcher from Third World Network.

http://video.elonmerkki.net/montreal-un-biosafety.mp4

2. Summary and conclusion of the campaign

We feel the campaig was a success and we think that it had its desired
effect for awakening international policymakers for the special
transboundary risks involved with transgenich trees.

In UN biodiversity meeting in Brazil 2006 lot of countries took critical
position on genetically modified trees and also the reports by FAO was
quite critical for (in) introducing transgenic trees. Read more:
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forum/thread/?id=414
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forum/thread/?id=416

However when thinking the publicity level, the campaign failed totally.
There was practically no news at all of the campaign. Even in Finland,
the origin country of this campaign initiative the campaign was not
noticed in publicity. However if we failed in paper media the campaign
was widely linked on websites and there was thousands of weekly visitors on campaign pages.

Financially the campaign was not a success story at all. Union of
Ecoforestry in Finland covered most of the costs. Without that
support and without the essential support and backing of 3000 thousand
individual and 300 organisation signing the petition, the effects of this
campaigh would not have happened.,

Thanks again all of you involved!

3. Networking for the GM tree free future

But there is no reason to forget this thread of GM trees. The issue is
that there is still ongoing enormous risk that our desired and loved planet with its forests becomes contamined by transgenic trees, species by species. Poplars seems to be the first ones because of Chinas
irresponsible forestry politics. There is a lot of other countries also
where this risky experiment and invasion with GM trees is managed.

There is still too little known and discussed what is really going on
with transgenic trees on the Earth.

Good advices are needed? Do you and or your organisation have the
interest and will to influence on the issue? What kind of ideas for campaigning there is needed now?

Please let us know also recent information you have got of the risks
and practices of genetically engineered trees. Write to forestforum AT elonmerkki.net

And be also free to continue adding your reports, news and other
information on the workshop on GM trees:
http://video.elonmerkki.net/forum/topic/?catid=71

Friendly in solidarity

Hannu Hyvönen
documentarist and campaigner
Finland