News Release
For Immediate Release 7/20/06
Contact: Adam Weissman (201) 928-2831
28 ANIMAL PROTECTION
GROUPS TO CONGRESS:
VOTE NO ON WILDLIFE-DEADLY TRADE DEAL WITH OMAN
Organizations: learn more
about what you can do on this issue!
Individuals:
learn how you can help!
(New York) – 28 animal rights groups,
including Wetlands Activism Collective signed a letter that was sent to every
member of the House of Representatives today, condemning the Oman Free Trade
Agreement with the U.S.,
scheduled for a today in the House of Representatives, as “a deadly disaster”
for wildlife.
Loss of habitat for
terrestrial wildlife and marine life is a main concern for activists. If the agreement is passed, activists say
that U.S. corporations and
their subsidiaries will be ensured the right to unchecked, destructive
development in Oman
as a result of provisions to challenge natural resource contracts, service
contracts, and infrastructure projects.
Industrial
pollution and development has already led to the disturbance and destruction of
beaches that serve as nesting and foraging sites for a variety of species of
turtles including the critically endangered hawksbill turtle. With passage of this trade agreement, coastal
development is likely to increase to the detriment of the already threatened
wildlife. In addition, Oman has not
signed on to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES), which regulates international trade in wildlife. However, according to
CITES reports, Oman
is home to 24 species of animals that are threatened with extinction and 189
additional species whose trade must be closely controlled for their survival.
The agreement offers strong
protections to corporate investors, but adds only token environmental
protection processes that are considered ineffectual by environmental groups. If passed, private corporations will be able
to sue nations in international tribunals for tens of billions of dollars for
refusing to allow ecologically destructive natural resource extraction projects
that endanger wildlife. This has already
proven detrimental in previous instances where the World Trade Organization has
sided with corporations over environmental laws.
According
to Adam Weissman of Wetlands Activism Collective “As habitats
are destroyed and factory farms are expanded, the OFTA will mean suffering and
death for animals as well as irreparable habitat loss. Congressmembers need to
realize that a vote for the Oman
deal is a vote against animals.”