Trade, Environment, and the Millennium

by Sampson, Gary P.; Chambers, W. Bradnee

• ISBN13: 9789280810431
• ISBN10: 928081043X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-03-01
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr

Summary

In January 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) became the successor to GATT -- the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The new organization was the result of years of negotiations on improving the rules-based trading system that oversees international trade. While most trade officials and others who have a direct interest in multilateral trade policy consider this multilateral system to be a major contributor to the enormous growth of world trade and income over the past half century, the WTO is viewed with suspicion and even animosity by many environmentalists. The criticisms focus on many aspects of the WTO. Some maintain that trade liberalization under WTO auspices has led to an environmentally harmful exploitation of natural and other resources, and others argue that the WTO hampers governments in pursuing environmentally friendly policies. The WTO is seen as increasingly extending its reach into areas -- particularly through its dispute settlement process -- that go beyond what is normally thought to be trade policy with important implications for

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
List of Acronyms	ix
Introduction And Overview	1	(22)
Gary P. Sampson
W. Bradnee Chambers
Trade and Environment: Strengthening Complementarities and Reducing Conflicts	23	(12)
Rubens Ricupero
Trade and Environment: How Real is the Debate?	35	(30)
Magda Shahin
Breaking the Deadlock: A Positive Agenda on Trade, Environment, and Development?	65	(32)
Veena Jha
Rene Vossenaar
Environmental Governance at the WTO: Outreach to Civil Society	97	(22)
Daniel C. Esty
The WTO Dispute Settlement System	119	(24)
William J. Davey
Fishery Subsidies and the WTO	143	(28)
David K. Schorr
Improving the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards	171	(24)
Steve Charnovitz
Environmental Labelling Schemes: WTO Law and Developing Country Implications	195	(28)
Arthur E. Appleton
The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, the Committee on Trade and Environment, and ECO-Labelling	223	(16)
Doaa Abdel Motaal
The Precautionary Principle	239	(32)
James Cameron
Environmental Treaties and Trade: Multilateral Environmental Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System	271	(28)
Duncan Brack
APPENDICES	299	(62)
I. Trade and environment in GATT/WTO	301	(46)
II. Key trade and environment issues: Problems and possible solutions	347	(14)
Veena Jha
Rene Vossenaar
List of Contributors	361	(4)
Index	365