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Sharp differences about the application of the United Nations (UN) biodiversity convention to forestry policy erupted between Latin American governments and environmentalist groups at a recent meeting of scientific experts from member countries of the convention.

At issue was whether the biodiversity convention should directly address the protection of biodiversity in forests, or be limited to providing advice to the separate UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, which regulates the commercial timber industry.

Environmentalist groups support direct intervention, as most biological diversity within forests lies in ‘non-tree components’, and the convention is more sympathetic than the panel to forestry conservation. But countries with large timber logging industries, particularly in Latin America, want the panel to take the lead role.

The declaration from the expert meeting, which took place in October, said that the biodiversity convention should be “consistent with” the panel's proposals for action. But one environmentalist at the meeting insists that “biodiversity should be given primary importance”.

Environmentalists were also angry at being excluded from observing the drafting session. The chairman, Gabor Nechay from Hungary, took the unprecedented step of inviting environmentalist groups to help draft recommendations for governments. This contravenes UN rules, which say that only sovereign states can take part in drafting official documents.

The environmentalists' involvement was opposed by delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, who then succeeded in having the environmentalists excluded from the sessions altogether.

A UK member of an environmentalist group admits that the chairman overstepped his authority in allowing nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to participate in drafting recommendations.

But he says the Latin American group had no right to exclude environmentalists from observing. NGOs can normally attend ‘closed’ sessions if participating governments agree. Such agreement depends on the sensitivity of the issue being discussed.

The Latin American countries' decision to exclude environmentalists is, however, unlikely to set a precedent. The new chairman of all the experts' working groups, Abdul Hamid Zakri from Malaysia, is known as a supporter of NGO involvement in the UN process.