Biodiversity and Trade (2004)
Recommendations of the Working Group on Biodiversity and Trade - European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy meeting under the Dutch Presidency of the EU Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 9th–13th December 2004, concerning:
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both” Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
The participants of this meeting place high priority on research to:
- 1. Understand the effects of selective removal from an ecosystem of species valuable for trade
- 2. Understand how trade in wildlife and wildlife products affects livelihoods
- 3. Create a system for the genetic traceability of resources, e.g. for timber certification, pharmaceutical exploration, wildlife trade
- 4. identify and understand the effect of trade-related incentives on biodiversity
- 5. improve the standards and efficiency of labelling schemes for sustainable use of biodiversity
- 6. elaborate strategies to better identify and internalise the costs and benefits to biodiversity arising from trade
- 7. investigate how to reduce the risk of introduction and establishment of non-native species either traded intentionally or transported unintentionally as a result of trade
- 8. better understand the principles and functioning of biological invasions related to trade, with a view to prevention, eradication or control
- 9. investigate the impact on biodiversity of trade-related transport and its infrastructure
- 10. investigate the impact of international trade agreements and changing terms of trade on biodiversity
- 11. investigate how carbon-trading schemes impact biodiversity
- 12. assess the prospects of the biodiversity regimes with a view on how trade could contribute to halt biodiversity loss
- 13. investigate the legitimacy and effectiveness of biodiversity-related trade standards
- 14. investigate how the social and economic impacts of trade affect biodiversity
- 15. investigate how trade of products is influenced by consumers' concerns for biodiversity.
In relation to these priority areas, the EPBRS recognises the crucial importance of:
- Development of mechanisms to enhance consumers' awareness of how trade impacts biodiversity
- Development of procedures to better accommodate the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in international trade agreements.