by Anne Petermann (Campaign to STOP GE Trees)
In 2008, at COP9 in Bonn, the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed to take a precautionary approach to genetically engineered (GE) trees (decision IX/5). They recognized serious uncertainties about the long-term and transboundary impacts of GE trees on forest biodiversity and the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. That decision has served as a de facto global moratorium. As Parties gather in Yerevan for the first global review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, it is being openly ignored.
In 2008, at COP9 in Bonn, the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed to take a precautionary approach to genetically engineered (GE) trees (decision IX/5). They recognized serious uncertainties about the long-term and transboundary impacts of GE trees on forest biodiversity and the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. That decision has served as a de facto global moratorium. As Parties gather in Yerevan for the first global review othe Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, it is being openly ignored.
Brazil, a Party to the Convention, is the starkest case. Since 2015, its National Technical Biosafety Commission (CTNBio) has issued eleven approvals for GE eucalyptus developed by FuturaGene, biotech subsidiary of pulp giant Suzano. The trees are engineered for faster growth, tolerance to herbicides such as glyphosate, and insect resistance; one is the world's first tree stacking all three traits. In February 2026, CTNBio approved a CRISPR gene-edited eucalyptus.
These trees would intensify one of Brazil's most destructive land uses. Indigenous, Quilombola and peasant communities call Suzano's eucalyptus monocultures "green deserts": plantations that dry up springs, are sprayed with pesticides from planes and drones, and have pushed communities off their territories. Faster-growing trees demand more water. Herbicide-tolerant trees mean more herbicide. Unlike annual crops, trees live for decades and spread pollen over long distances. Once GE trees escape, there is no recall. Increasingly, these plantations are also being marketed as "carbon removal," dressing up land grabs as climate action.
The United States, which has never ratified the CBD, is moving in the same direction. On 27 August 2026, the US Department of Agriculture deregulated the "Darling 54" GE American chestnut, engineered with a wheat gene to tolerate blight, after abandoning a full Environmental Impact Statement. Only an Environmental Protection Agency review now stands before wide distribution. Unlike plantation eucalyptus, this tree is meant to be planted into native forests and to spread there on its own. Its review was itself troubled: years of research turned out to have been conducted on a different line than the one originally submitted for approval. A decision of this kind by a major biotech power sets a precedent that Parties will be pressured to follow.
Indigenous Peoples, whose territories hold much of the world's remaining biodiversity, are sounding the alarm. In 2024, at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Indigenous leaders launched a global campaign against GE trees, and the then-UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples warned that GMO forests must not be allowed.
Precaution means nothing if Parties can disregard it without consequence. We call on all Parties to imme-diately cancel any testing of, licenses for, or commercial approval of GE trees, including gene-edited trees, and to implement the precautionary principle in good faith.
COP17 should reaffirm decision IX/5, ask the Secretariat to report on Parties' compliance with it, and ensure no GE tree is released without the free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous Peoples and local
communities.