Green Trade Agreements

01 02 Green Trade Agreements addresses the controversies which arose after the 1991 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade dispute panel ruling against the United States in the tuna-dolphin case. This galvanized an already wary public into opposing expansion of free trade. Environmentalists and free trade advocates became embroiled in a heated controversy: one side regarded GATT as enemies of the environment, while the other side regarded applying environmental rules to trade as a death knell to prosperity. The subsequent North American Free Trade Agreement represented an attempt to reconcile these differences, incorporating both environmental provisions as well as an environmental side agreement. Since this landmark accord, an increasing number of FTAs are including environmental provisions. In this volume Dale Colyer reviews the various types of environmental provisions included in FTAs, examining how these are incorporated and analysing how these provisions work. The effectiveness of specific provisions is assessed, and potential improvements are suggested that could protect the environment without restricting trade. 13 02 DALE COLYER is Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics, West Virginia University, USA, where he conducted research on development and trade. He was a policy analyst with USAID Ecuador, consulted in Africa and Latin America, and has published articles on trade and development and co-edited 'Agriculture and Economic Survival' and 'Competition in Agriculture.' 31 02 Catalogs, analyses and evaluates the impact of the rapidly growing inclusion of environmental provisions in free trade agreements 04 02 Introduction Environmental Impacts of Trade Background Issues NAFTA's Environmental Provisions Environment and GATT/WTO FTA Trade Provisions US Trade Agreements FTAs in the Americas European Trade Agreements Trade Agreements in the Rest of the World Environmental Impact Analysis Impacts of Environmental Provisions Summary and Outlook 19 02 Reviews the types of environmental provisions included in trade agreements Provides an in-depth listing and analysis of environmental provisions used by a large number of nations Analyses how these provisions are incorporated into agreements and how they are implemented Explains the different ways of evaluating the environmental impacts of trade agreements Reviews the controversies and issues that accompanied the use of environmental provisions in FTAs 02 02 Green Trade Agreements review