Central America: "Trade agreements affect areas of biodiversity and food sovereignty" http://www.bilaterals.org/spip.php?article17546

The high costs of investment in environmental mitigation and adaptation, are emerging as the major challenges for governments in Central America, in the shadow of trade agreements that are designed to encourage transnational corporations to the detriment of the people and their environment . Friends of the Earth International, Via Campesina and the World March of Women,

held a forum on the negative implications of the European Association Agreement (AA) and the expropriation of biodiversity through patents and copyrights. Ricardo Navarro, Chairman, Centre for Appropriate Technology (CESTA), criticized this type of action that plunged them into deeper poverty, the developing nations most of which have considerable biodiversity and raw materials, which has put them in  eye the European industry. 

"These treaties are designed to favor large companies and now they want to patent living things, biodiversity and everything to encourage the dependency of the poor to the rich," he lamented. "The ADA is a preferential option for big business and we hope that parliaments (in the region) do not ratify these accords" he suggested. Meanwhile, the Guatemalan economist Mario Rodriguez noted that the ADA is "a clear instrument of economic domination"

in order to expand the European market for transnational corporations, increased investments for some time that have settled in the region such as telephone and services electric lighting. "With the financial chaos, developed countries have further developed the model, despite its failure because who created the crisis?, Banks and to whom did they give the money to stay afloat?, Banks, and it is paid by the peoples taxes "he said. 

As to the behavior of the markets between the EU and Central America, Rodriguez said that there is no parallel or symmetry in the allocation of export quotas.  "What good is it that Guatemala would have allowed it to impose quotas of coffee to the EU, if these (transnational) will buy all the grain in Africa, Asia, including Central America, grind it, package it and export it to our countries, it does not matter, "he said. 

Civil society organizations were concerned by the chapter of "intellectual property", which according to Silvia Ribeiro, of Uruguay, is the way to "export monopoly," so that other people do not have access to natural resources and biodiversity. "It is a typical mechanism of Capitalism, expand control over markets, this is absurd, 97% of patents are U.S., Japan and Europe, these 90% are owned by transnational corporations", he said. 

These rules, as the PBR (referring to plants), copyrights (trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs and folklore, is a way of concentrating the power of knowledge and avoid trade legislation wich requires that after 20 years of exclusive use, go to the society. "I want you to know that 90% of medicines in the world are imitations, the invention of another patent, before modern biotechnology was not accepted that living things were patented,

but now, trade relations of WTO and NAFTA all living things are evident and require countries to legalize it, from microorganisms, DNA and microbiological processes, "he said. As social organizations in defense of biodiversity and food sovereignty, we  are committed to continue to put pressure on governments of their countries in the protection of genetic and cultural heritage of peoples in developing countries.

comment-also see...Aid to poor countries should be tailored more towards benefiting European firms, a top-level Brussels official has recommended. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51786   Although that initiative primarily relates to the economy within Europe, it also commits the Union to removing obstacles that large companies face in doing business abroad or in gaining access to the natural resources of foreign countries.

also see...the Permanent Peoples Tribunal, which condemned the European Union and European Financial Institutions for supporting criminal activities of European transnational corporations in Latin America http://www.foei.org/en/media/archive/2010/european-union-complicit-in-human-right-violations-in-latin-america Press Release: Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, Putting European corporations on trial http://www.tni.org/article/press-release-permanent-peoples-tribunal-putting-european-corporations-trial