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conservation int'l

see rob walton

see am promise pres

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservation_International

Conservation International aims "to conserve the Earth's living heritage, our global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature." They are a U.S.-based, nonprofit international organization. [1]

Aziz Choudry writing in Zmag in 2003 notes that "Colin Powell says that its work is "amazing". In 2001, it received what the media dubbed the biggest ever grant to an environmental organization - US $261 million spread over 10 years. Its website proclaims: "A passionate few can make the difference in the world."" He adds that:

:{"In 1997 CI signed a comprehensive bioprospecting agreement with California-based company Hyseq, which specializes in genomic sequencing. CI agreed to pre-screen drug candidates derived from flora and fauna samples, and provide regular reports on its research findings to Hyseq. As well as an initial contribution, Hyseq would pay CI on a country basis, and an annual fee. Hyseq is free to pursue intellectual property claims over any results.:{"In Panama, CI worked with Novartis, Monsanto, and others, in "ecologically guided bioprospecting" - }:seeking pharmaceutical and agricultural products from plants, fungi and insects. In Surinam it cooperated with Bristol Myers Squibb, with its ethnobotanists collecting plant samples.

CI worked to win the trust of Indigenous communities and healers and negotiate a very dubious "benefit-sharing" agreement. ..."A June 2003 report by Chiapas-based Center for Political Analysis and Social Investigation (CAPISE) dubbed CI a Trojan Horse of the US government and transnational corporations.It revealed that CI's program of flyovers - part of their USAID-supported "environmental monitoring" program - flew over areas occupied by Zapatista communities in planes which bore USAID markings. In Chiapas, CI uses state-of-the art geographical information systems (GIS) technology, including high resolution satellite imaging. ..."CI supports the World Bank -backed MesoAmerican Biological Corridor project.

Many indigenous communities, social movements and NGOs have condemned this as an attempt to greenwash the massive Plan Puebla Panama infrastructure scheme, and as a front for corporate biopiracy in the region."CI is also a partner in the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, with the World Bank and the American Forest and Paper Association (US timber and paper industry lobby group), launched by Colin Powell at last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg." [2]}:

Funding

According to their 2005 Financial Summary they received the following:

Staff

Directors

Source: http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/about/board.xml

Vice Chairs

Board Members

California, N.A.

Emeritus

Publications

Contact

2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500

Arlington, VA 22202

Telephone: (703) 341-2400

Toll-free (within the US): 1(800) 429-5660

Web: [3]

Resources and articles

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Criticism

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Rob Walton "has played a key role in the company since before Wal-Mart went public in 1970. Rob received a law degree from Columbia University and had begun work at a Tulsa law firm in the late '60s. The Walton family was his first client, and his father asked him to explore the available options of doing a public offering. Wal-Mart was a maze of partnership agreements at the time and strapped for cash to operate stores, Rob recommended consolidating the debt and worked out the details of how to consolidate the partnerships into one company and then sell a percentage to the public. Rob was named a director in 1978, became vice chairman in 1985 and assumed the chairmanship in 1992 when his father passed away. That same year, Rob's brother John was also named a director. Since he's only 54, Rob Walton's leadership of the company is expected to continue for decades." ^[1]

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch articles

References

  1. ↑ The Walton influence carries on, Bnet, accessed January 15, 2009.

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