Dear Friends,

Warm greetings from the Asia Pacific Research Network!

We are pleased to invite you to the APRN Conference on People's Sovereignty on Natural Resources which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on October 23-25, 2007.

The Conference on People's Sovereignty on Natural Resources is an open and public gathering of grassroots movements, academe, and civil society organizations involved in natural resources issues.  This means that aside from APRN members, we expect peasant and fisherfolk organizations, indigenous peoples, women, workers, and other sectors to participate.

The Conference aims to bring together those sectors most affected by natural resource degradation, develop a common platform promoting the primacy of people and planet over profit and develop the strategy of people's sovereignty in the framework of stewardship over natural resources.

Specifically, its objectives shall be to:

• Achieve a common understanding of the issue of natural resources overexploitation in the context of corporate globalization in its different areas, contexts and forms;
• Develop researches into various aspects of the issue of natural resources and promote coordination on research and information sharing in these aspects;
• Bring different stakeholders on the issue of natural resources into a common discussion to build a policy advocacy platform based on the principle of people and planet over profit to stop overexploitation by corporations promoted by policies of corporate globalization; and
• Explore possible international alternative people-powered mechanisms for protecting the environment in the framework of sustainable utilization of natural resources for the benefit of the community.

The APRN Secretariat and the local organizing committee from the Thai NGO-COD and the Sustainable Development Foundation are working to bring in around 200 participants from the Asia-Pacific and other global regions.

Attached you will find a brief background to the Conference, a preliminary agenda and registration form. Kindly confirm your participation by sending in the attached Conference registration form August 15th.  

Looking forward to your earliest response,

Maria Theresa Nera-Lauron
General Secretary
Asia-Pacific Research Network

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