Civil Society Meeting on ENMOD and Related Agreements on Hostile Modification of the Environment

Civil Society Meeting on ENMOD and Related Agreements on Hostile Modification of the Environment
TNI, Amsterdam, 18-19 May 2001

Programme

Friday 18 May, 2001

8:30 Pastries and Coffee at TNI

9:00 Welcome (Fiona Dove, TNI Director)

9:15 Introduction/Organization of Work (Edward Hammond)

9:30 Personal Introductions - Table-Go-Round

9:45 A Short Refresher Course on ENMOD (Susana Pimiento)

10:15 Coffee Break

10:45 Areas of Interest and Background Presentations for the
Uninitiated (10 minutes each)

Because we come from different backgrounds, these short presentations are to inform each other of the relevant aspects of the areas in which we work.

Biological Warfare & the Environment - Mark Wheelis
Fumigation and Drugs - Ricardo Vargas
Greenpeace's Disarmament Work - Simon Carroll
Pesticides / Ag Chemicals in Africa - Simplice Vodouhe
Biosafety - Lim Li Lin
Chembio War on Drugs / UNDCP - Martin Jelsma
Science/Society - Beth Burrows
(Others as appropriate) -

12:30 Lunch

1:45 Round Table Discussions

#1 Emerging Conflicts and the Environment
What new conflicts, or escalating kinds of conflict could lead to destruction of the environment and livelihoods? What are the related political alignments? What about asymmetrical warfare and spillover of internal conflicts? Are there common denominators, differences?
Leader TBD (Chee Yoke Ling?)

#2 Weapons and Strategies: Biotech, Chemical and Biological Warfare
What's the state of CBW technology, what is on the horizon, and how could it relate to conflicts identified in Discussion #1? Will, for example, biotechnology, be relevant to conflicts over water or land rights. If so, how?
Leader TBD (Edward Hammond?)

#3 UN Framework: A Closer Walk through of ENMOD & Related Treaties
What are our questions about what it might cover and might not. Is ENMOD hopeless? Can we relate it to the previous two discussions? Might it be a useful tool?
Leader TBD (Beth Burrows?)

5:15 Planning for Day Two

Day Two. Saturday 18 May

It is suggested that Day 2 could begin with everyone briefly discussing how they see the previous day's discussion relating to their work. We should probably not break into smaller groups; but identify a series of concrete topics of interest and arrange discussion of them. We plan a light breakfast at TNI and a farewell dinner at 7:00PM.

5:30 Cocktails

Between the cocktail and supper, anyone who wants to go back to the hotel for a quick rest or who would like to stroll around the neighborhood (Vondelpark?) should by all means do so!

7:30 Supper at the Chez TNI (vegetarians accommodated)

List of Attendees

Barkin, David, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, Mexico
Burrows, Beth, Edmonds Institute, Edmonds, Washington, USA
Carroll, Simon, Disarmament Campaign, Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Chee, Yoke Ling, Third World Network, Penang, Malaysia
Hammond, Edward The Sunshine Project, Austin, Texas, USA
Jelsma, Martin Drugs and Democracy Program, Transnational Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Lim, Li Lin ("Lin"), Third World Network, Penang, Malaysia
Oomen, Joep, European NGO Council on Drugs & Development, Antwerp, Belgium
Pimiento Chamorro, Susana, The Sunshine Project, Austin, Texas, USA
Ribeiro, Silvia, Rural Advancement Foundation International, Winnipeg, Canada (& Mexico City, Mexico)
Vodouhe, Simplice ("Davo"), University of Benin / Pesticide Action Network - Africa, Porto-Novo, Benin
Vargas, Ricardo, Acción Andina, Bogotá, Colombia
Wheelis, Mark, Section on Microbiology, University of California at Davis, USA