Trade and the Environment: Greening of the WTO

<p>The World Trade Organisation has often been demonised for its negative effect on the environment. Environmentalists have chastised the WTO for a failure to protect the environment against the impact of globalised trade. In December 1999 activists marched the Ministerial Conference in Seattle to protest what they saw as the WTO’s preference for free trade at the expense of the environment. They blocked the entrances to the WTO meeting and prevented delegates from attending discussions, ultimately killing the Round of negotiations. Still today the WTO is notorious in environmental circles and has ‘become a watchword for injustice and environmental ignorance.’ One of the, if not the, main reason for this opposition to the WTO is the WTO’s, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade’s, past treatment of tradeenvironment cases. The Tuna-Dolphin and Shrimp-Turtle cases drew the attention of environmental activists around the world, who saw the decisions of the dispute settlement bodies, which ruled against environmental trade measures, as evidence that the WTO and GATT desire ever-liberalised trade at any cost. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the WTO has in fact greened over time, and that those who continue to condemn the WTO without reservation have failed to recognise changes in the WTO which signal that the door has been opened to environmental trade measures. This paper does not purport to claim that the GATT has always been an environmentally friendly institution, but rather that significant changes have occurred which warrant a shift in public attitude. The purpose of encouraging that change in public perception is not simply to relieve the WTO of criticism. Rather, the goal of this paper rests on the idea that only once the international community has acknowledged the greening of the WTO, will Member states truly be able to implement trade-related environmental measures that do not contravene the GATT and therefore are left un-contested and free to achieve their environmental aims. If better attention is given to the current jurisprudence, Member states could follow carefully laid out criteria to create effective and acceptable trade-related environmental measures. Part II of this paper provides important background information about the environment-trade debate, the WTO, trade-liberalisation and the significant relationship between trade and the environment. Part III then sets the scene by describing some of the predictions that were made about the potential treatment of the environment by the WTO. Part IV will then describe the key trading principles of the GATT and the environmental exceptions to those principles. Part V highlights several institutional and organization developments which have occurred and which signify a greening of the GATT/WTO arena. Most importantly, Part VI outlines several significant developments in WTO jurisprudence to demonstrate its new sophistication and the resultant greening of the dispute settlement process. Finally Part VII discusses the greening of the WTO in the setting of an environmentally conscious world.</p>

Trade and the Environment: Greening of the WTO

<p>The World Trade Organisation has often been demonised for its negative effect on the environment. Environmentalists have chastised the WTO for a failure to protect the environment against the impact of globalised trade. In December 1999 activists marched the Ministerial Conference in Seattle to protest what they saw as the WTO’s preference for free trade at the expense of the environment. They blocked the entrances to the WTO meeting and prevented delegates from attending discussions, ultimately killing the Round of negotiations. Still today the WTO is notorious in environmental circles and has ‘become a watchword for injustice and environmental ignorance.’ One of the, if not the, main reason for this opposition to the WTO is the WTO’s, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade’s, past treatment of tradeenvironment cases. The Tuna-Dolphin and Shrimp-Turtle cases drew the attention of environmental activists around the world, who saw the decisions of the dispute settlement bodies, which ruled against environmental trade measures, as evidence that the WTO and GATT desire ever-liberalised trade at any cost. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the WTO has in fact greened over time, and that those who continue to condemn the WTO without reservation have failed to recognise changes in the WTO which signal that the door has been opened to environmental trade measures. This paper does not purport to claim that the GATT has always been an environmentally friendly institution, but rather that significant changes have occurred which warrant a shift in public attitude. The purpose of encouraging that change in public perception is not simply to relieve the WTO of criticism. Rather, the goal of this paper rests on the idea that only once the international community has acknowledged the greening of the WTO, will Member states truly be able to implement trade-related environmental measures that do not contravene the GATT and therefore are left un-contested and free to achieve their environmental aims. If better attention is given to the current jurisprudence, Member states could follow carefully laid out criteria to create effective and acceptable trade-related environmental measures. Part II of this paper provides important background information about the environment-trade debate, the WTO, trade-liberalisation and the significant relationship between trade and the environment. Part III then sets the scene by describing some of the predictions that were made about the potential treatment of the environment by the WTO. Part IV will then describe the key trading principles of the GATT and the environmental exceptions to those principles. Part V highlights several institutional and organization developments which have occurred and which signify a greening of the GATT/WTO arena. Most importantly, Part VI outlines several significant developments in WTO jurisprudence to demonstrate its new sophistication and the resultant greening of the dispute settlement process. Finally Part VII discusses the greening of the WTO in the setting of an environmentally conscious world.</p>

International Trade and Health in Thailand: A Scoping Review

International trade has become more complicated and is now related to more aspects of health and the health system. As Thailand is active in international trade and health, understanding what knowledge exists and determining the knowledge gap is essential for generating the necessary evidence in order to promote better understanding and allow evidence-based policy decisions to be made. This study reviewed the existence of knowledge on international trade and health issues in a scoping review, focusing on Thailand during the period 1991–2020. In total, 156 studies from seven databases and manual searching were included. Of these, 46% were related to trade in health services and 39% were linked to intellectual property, particularly access to medicines. This review found only a very small amount of research on other issues and did not identify any study on trade policies or products related to health and international trade and the environment. We therefore recommend that further studies should be carried out to provide more critical evidence—in particular, more research focusing on the impacts of trade on health-related goods and the analysis of the positive and negative impacts of international trade on industry is needed. Furthermore, better knowledge management through the publication of research findings and making them searchable on international databases will increase the visibility of international trade, increase our knowledge of health issues, and provide supporting evidence.

Comercio y medioambiente: no hacer daño, hacer el bien, ser bueno

Trade is an engine of economic growth, employment and business innovation. It can be a powerful lever to promote sustainable development, for the benefit of both women and men, in harmony with nature and the environment. All actors that are directly or indirectly involved in international trade have the responsibility to guarantee a “good trade”. This article clarifies the relationship between trade and the environment along global supply chains as key elements for sustainable development. Drawing on personal experience, we address several global topics and highlight some very promising initiatives coming from the business world.

Development and Environment in Early World Trade Debates

This chapter discusses and analyses the history of development and environment concerns, in an international trade context, and in doing so, builds a timeline (between 1947 and 1994) which traces the development of conversations and debates around these issues at the international level. It begins by discussing the context and time period within which development concerns became part of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) debate, and then proceeds to a discussion of the sources of conversations around environmental concerns. It concludes by discussing how at the start of the new World Trade Organization (WTO) (in 1994), tensions existed between constituencies interested in trade-led economic growth, constituencies seeking trade to support development and countries wishing to make links between trade and the environment.

Environmental Directing Principles versus Free Trade

This chapter focuses on the conflict between the precautionary principle and free trade within the World Trade Organization (WTO). It explains that the said conflict illustrates the role that environmental principles can play in modifying a debate with major legal as well as societal implications. It stresses the odd twists and tangled hierarchies characteristic of post-modern law which may be encountered in disputes involving trade and the environment.

10. Trade and the environment

This chapter explores the complex and multifaceted relationship between international trade and environmental protection. The global trade regime's normative principles, legal rules, and real-world consequences often contradict environmental governance. For example, there is tension between trade and environmental governance with respect to the commercialisation of endangered species, export of hazardous wastes, emissions involved in transporting goods, and patentability of living organisms. However, there are also synergies, which enable trade liberalisation and environmental protection to reinforce one another. For example, trade forces were key drivers in the reduction of ozone-depleting substances and the affordability of pollution abatement technologies. The chapter explores these conflicts and synergies by first discussing the literature that examines the positive and negative impacts that trade has on the environment. It goes on to look at the trade dimensions of various environmental regimes, and then environmental dimensions of the trade regime, within both the World Trade Organization and preferential trade agreements.