The FTAA: Coming for a Forest Near You

Under draft FTAA rules, foreign corporations would be empowered to sue governments when they feel that their ability to earn a profit from their investment is inhibited by forest management and protection standards, or by the return of land to indigenous peoples. These "investor protection" suits insure against not only "expropriation," or direct taking, of corporate profits, but also against environmental safeguards that are deemed to be "tantamount to expropriation." This vague standard, well in excess of US laws protecting private property, has been left to the interpretation of unelected and secretive panels. As has been the case under NAFTA, transnational corporations could use these investment rules to overturn environmental laws and pursue awards of up to one billion dollars. Under FTAA rules, countries would be impeded from strengthening their forest protection standards, since timber companies could pursue steep compensation for profits lost.