Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
19
An introduction to the trade and environment
debate
Steve Charnovitz
*
Introduction
This chapter o
ers an introduction to the trade and environment debate. Readers of this
Handbook
will encounter many di
ff
erent approaches to these complex issues. What I seek
to do here is to provide historical, political and legal context for analysts who try to under-
stand and, ultimately, to solve trade and environment problems. Following this introduc-
tion, the chapter has two sections. The
ff
rst puts the contemporary debate in historical
context and explains how the trading system got to the point where it is today. The second
section provides a legal guide to the provisions of World Trade Organization (WTO)
agreements that relate directly to the environment.
fi
History and context
International policies on trade and on environment have always intersected. The earliest
multilateral environmental agreement (MEA), the Convention for the Protection of
Birds Useful to Agriculture, signed in 1902, utilized an import ban as an environmental
instrument.
1
The earliest multilateral trade agreement to pursue trade liberalization, the
Convention for the Abolition of Import and Export Prohibitions and Restrictions,
signed in 1927, contained an exception for trade restrictions imposed for the protection
of public health and the protection of animals and plants against diseases and against
'extinction'.
2
As environmental regimes evolved over the twentieth century, trade instruments con-
tinued to be used by governments seeking workable environmental protection. When the
postwar multilateral trading system was designed in 1947-48, governments recognized the
need for some policy space to accommodate the use of trade measures as instruments to
safeguard the environment and health. The General Agreement on Tari
s and Trade
(GATT) of 1947 contained provisions in Article XX (General Exceptions) to accommo-
date governmental measures necessary for the protection of life and health, and measures
relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources. Although it never came into
force, the Charter of the International Trade Organization provided an exception for mea-
sures taken 'in pursuance of any inter-governmental agreement which relates solely to the
conservation of
ff
fi
sheries resources, migratory birds or wild animals . . .'.
3
rst-generational 'trade and environment' policies, the two regimes recognized
some linkage to the other, but did not actively look for ways to enhance each other's goals.
For example, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES), signed in 1973, uses trade bans as a central instrument for the
management and enforcement of wildlife policies. For many years, however, CITES was
not fully attentive to how controlled trade could enhance sustainable management.
Similarly, the GATT system was often not attentive to how its normative activities to
In these
fi
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