GM populieren: België op het matje geroepen door inheemse volkeren!!! : Ovl IMC

For Immediate Release 22 May 2009

*Belgium Permanent Mission Protested by Attendees of the UN Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues*
*Protesters Insist Genetically Engineered Poplar Trees Planted by
Belgium be Removed*

*New York, New York--*Today on International Biodiversity Day,
Indigenous Peoples Organizations along with several Non-Governmental
Organizations held a protest against genetically engineered trees in
front of the Belgian Permanent Mission. During the protest, a letter [1]
was delivered to Belgian Ambassador, Jan K.F. Grauls, that condemned a
field trial of genetically engineered poplar trees planted earlier this
month in Belgium. The letter was signed by prominent international
Indigenous Peoples Organizations including COICA
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351109/32556/goto:http://www.coica.org.ec/ingles/bienvenido.htm>
(Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon),
International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of Tropical
Forests
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351108/32556/goto:http://www.international-alliance.org/>,
Indigenous Environmental Network
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351107/32556/goto:http://www.ienearth.org/>
and others from Latin America, North America, Africa and India. [2]

The focus of the International Biodiversity Day this year was the damage
caused to biodiversity by alien invasive species. "Genetically
engineered trees that can spread their pollen for hundreds of kilometers
should be classified as alien invasive species," insisted Anne
Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project Executive Director and North
American Focal Point of Global Forest Coalition. "They can contaminate
native forests with dangerous and unnatural traits that can cause
extensive damage to forest biological diversity," she added.

Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, in his statement
about the celebration of International Biodiversity Day 2009 stated:

"Invasive alien species are an unintended consequence of globalization,
damaging ecosystem services, livelihoods and economies around the world.
The government of South Africa alone is spending $60 million per year to
try to eradicate plants such as acacia, which are encroaching on arable
land and valuable river systems, as well as sites of economic
importance, as Cape Floral Kingdom ... There are many other examples of
invasive alien species can affect native biodiversity, agriculture,
forestry, fisheries and human health."

On 6 May, The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) planted an
outdoor field trial of poplar trees genetically engineered specifically
for the production of cellulosic ethanol in Belgium. With native
poplars throughout Europe, the development of GE tree plantations in
Belgium would threaten to contaminate forests throughout Europe with
destructive traits.

"The use of GE trees or any trees to produce agrofuels is a terrible
idea," stated Jihan Gearon, Energy Campaigner for Indigenous
Environmental Network. "The quantity of wood needed to produce
agrofuels would mean vast areas of land would be converted to
plantations of GE trees, destroying forests and displacing indigenous
and forest-dependent communities," she continued.

In the letter, delivered to the Belgian Ambassador by Reverend Patricia
A. Maciel of the Native American Church
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351106/32556/goto:http://www.nativeamericanchurch.com/>,
signatories explained that, 'Mother Earth is no longer in a period of
climate change, but in climate crisis. GE trees are yet another false
solution and cannot be part of the fight against global warming. We
therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration
of the elements of life."

In the United States, GE tree company ArborGen is developing genetically
engineered cold tolerant eucalyptus trees for agrofuel production. This
GE trait would allow eucalyptus, already a known invasive species, to
invade ecosystems in geographies previously inhospitable to eucalyptus
trees. Native forest ecosystems across the U.S. Southeast would be
threatened if these GE eucalyptus plantations are developed. Currently
release of GE trees in commercial plantations is not legal in the U.S.,
but ArborGen is petitioning the government to allow the commercial
planting of GE trees. The export of these GE cold tolerant eucalyptus
to other parts of the world would massively expand eucalyptus
plantations into temperate regions, devastating native forests and
grasslands and displacing local peoples. Non-GE ecualyptus plantations
are already notorious for these devastating impacts in tropical and
subtropical regions.

*CONTACT: * Anne Petermann, Global Justice Ecology Project Executive
Director and GFC North American Focal Point, +1.802.578.0477 (mobile)
Orin Langelle, Global Forest Coalition Media Coordinator,
+1.802.578.6980 (mobile)--high resolution photographs available upon request

*NOTES:*

[1] Letter delivered to the Belgian Permanent Mission:

We Insist on an Immediate End to the Destruction and Desecration of the
Elements of Life and Say "NO" to Genetically Engineered Trees

GE Poplars Planted in Belgium Risk Contaminating European Forests with
Climate-Destructive Traits and Must be Removed

Dear Mr. Jan K.F. Grauls, Ambassador, 22 May 2009

Today, on International Biodiversity Day, we the undersigned
organizations and individuals attending the UN Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, call on Belgium to remove a field trial of GE poplar
trees planted on 6 May by The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB)
in Belgium. The poplars have been genetically engineered specifically
for the production of agrofuels (industrial-scale biofuels).

Invasive alien species are the second leading cause of global
biodiversity loss. GE trees are invasive alien species that can spread
their pollen and seeds for hundreds of kilometers. Extensive
contamination of native forests would be both inevitable and
irreversible if GE tree plantations are developed.

Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, in his statement
about the celebration of International Biodiversity Day 2009:

"Invasive alien species are an unintended consequence of globalization,
damaging ecosystem services, livelihoods and economies around the world.
The government of South Africa alone is spending $60 million per year to
try to eradicate plants such as acacia, which are encroaching on arable
land and valuable river systems, as well as sites of economic
importance, as Cape Floral Kingdom ... There are many other examples of
invasive alien species can affect native biodiversity, agriculture,
forestry, fisheries and human health. "

The social and ecological impacts of genetically engineered trees are
potentially devastating. Sterile GE trees without seeds or fruit will
provide no food for communities or animals. Low lignin GE trees cannot
be used for shelter or firewood. The pollen from some GE trees is toxic
if it is inhaled. Indigenous Peoples and other forest dependent peoples
will suffer severe impacts if genetically engineered tree plantations
are developed. Communities will be displaced from their traditional
lands to make room for GE tree plantations.

At the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change, last month
in Anchorage, Alaska, Indigenous Peoples from around the Earth met to
discuss the impacts of climate change. The Anchorage Declaration that
came out of the summit stated, "Mother Earth is no longer in a period of
climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an
immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of
life." The declaration further rejected all Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs) on Indigenous lands.

Agrofuels made from food crops have been widely condemned due to their
impacts on the global food supply. However, manufacturing agrofuels
from GE (GMO) trees is not the answer. More land will be monopolized to
grow GE trees--displacing agriculture and communities and destroying
forests to free up the massive area needed to produce the necessary
quantities of fuel. Reducing fuel consumption is the solution. There
is simply no way to sustainably replace the huge amount of transport
fuel being used in the Industrialized North.

The role of healthy forests in mitigating climate change cannot be
underestimated. Forests are the lungs of the Earth. They are
critically important carbon sinks.

GE trees cannot be part of the solution to climate change. Not only
will GE trees themselves worsen climate change, the use of wood to
manufacture liquid fuels will massively increase global deforestation
levels. We need to stop the tremendous life-destroying carbon emissions
caused by deforestation, not escalate deforestation by creating a
massive new demand for wood.

GE trees are yet another false solution and cannot be part of the fight
against global warming. We insist these test plots of GE trees be
immediately removed.

[2] Organizational Signatories:

International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of Tropical
Forests
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351105/32556/goto:http://www.international-alliance.org/>,/
International/
CORE
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351104/32556/goto:http://www.coremanipur.org/>
(Centre for Organisation, Research and Education),/ India/
COICA
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351103/32556/goto:http://www.coica.org.ec/ingles/bienvenido.htm>
(Organizaciones Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica),/ South America/
Amazonia-Ecuatoriana,/ Ecuador/
CNAMIB,/ Bolivia/
Society for Threatened Peoples International,/ International/
Asociación Indigenas Ambiental,/ Panama/
CIDOB
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351102/32556/goto:http://www.cidob.org>,/
Argentina/
C/MIB,/ Bolivia/
Parakuiyo Pastoralists Society,/ Tanzania/
Indigenous Environmental Network
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351101/32556/goto:http://www.ienearth.org/>,/
North America/
Global Forest Coalition
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351100/32556/goto:http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/>,/
International/
Global Justice Ecology Project
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351099/32556/goto:http://globaljusticeecology.org/>,/
International/
STOP GE Trees Campaign
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351098/32556/goto:http://nogetrees.org>,/
International/
Fundamin de Colombia,/ Colombia/
AICO
<http://e2ma.net/go/2037215195/1863726/69351097/32556/goto:http://www.aicocolombia.org>
(Autoridades Indigenas de Colombia)/ Colombia/
Corporacíon de Mujeres Mapuche,/ Chile/