Franken-trees.

• Position: Plight of Forests

Global Justice Ecology Project, September 29, 2004: The development and consequences of genetically engineered trees are moving faster than anticipated.

Disturbing News

* China. Two years ago, China's State Forestry Administration approved genetically modified (GM) poplar trees for commercial planting. Well over one million insect resistant GM poplars have now been planted in China.

* Milan, Italy. With pressure from the US, the UN sponsored Ninth Conference of the Parties held in Milan, Italy in December 2003 agreed to allow GM trees in plantations developed for carbon sequestration as part of the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, despite the fact that the US has rejected the Protocol. This agreement, reached over the objections of the European Union, opens the door for World Bank funding for development of GM trees in carbon offset plantations in the Global South through the Bank's Prototype Carbon Fund.

* Hilo, Hawaii. Independent laboratory testing results released in September 2004 reveal widespread contamination from the world's first commercially planted genetically engineered tree, the papaya, on Oahu, the Big Island and Kauai, and in the stock of non-GM seeds being sold commercially by the University of Hawaii.

Encouraging News

* Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) is working nationally and internationally to stop the commercial development of genetically engineered trees. In October 2004, GJEP Co-director, Anne Petermann, was in Durban, South Africa for important meetings on carbon trading and timber plantation carbon sinks. Other groups involved in these meetings are The Corner House (UK), World Rainforest Movement (Uruguay), Carbon Trade Watch Transnational Institute (Netherlands), CDM Watch (Australia), Dag Hammarskjold Foundation (Sweden), Indigenous Environmental Network (Americas), Sinks Watch (UK), the Timberwatch Coalition (South Africa) and more. Read more on these meetings at GJEP's Eventswebsite:http://globaljusticeecology.org/index.php?page=home#events.

* On Earth Day in April 2004 at the National Press Club in Washington...