Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
on their
nal characteristics and use so as not to run counter to non-discrimination prin-
ciples, as formulated by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD). Qatar was among the
fi
rst developing countries to recognize a strategic
opportunity presented by liberalizing trade in this second group of products and pro-
posed natural gas as an environmental good based on its environmentally preferably use
as an alternative to more carbon-intensive energy sources, such as petroleum and coal.
16
A similar logic is applied by Brazil when proposing biofuels as an environmentally prefer-
able energy source. While the proposed liberalization of energy commodities has not been
well received by industrialized countries, the Qatari proposal exposes a proactive policy
position taken by an Arab country on a trade and environment topic based on strategic
interests.
Following this lead, the CAMRE Technical Secretariat undertook a similar proactive
fi
e
ort to formulate guidelines for assisting Arab states to identify environmental products
that could be proposed for liberalization.
ff
The resulting Arab Reference List on
Environmental Goods o
ff
ers a set of criteria for di
ff
erentiating environment goods into
fi
ve groups. The list includes products in the two groups of environmental goods discussed
above, as well as many others.
17
Interestingly, the guidelines propose positive and negative
criteria for justifying whether liberalization of a certain product should be pursued. For
instance, the guidelines suggest that products banned under trade-related MEAs should
never be considered for liberalization, which is the
rst time that negative criteria have
been incorporated into guidelines to support policy-making on the liberalization of envi-
ronmental goods.
18
While many of the items proposed for liberalization include minerals
and chemical compounds (which WTO member states have now generally agreed to
exclude from the negotiations), the list represents an important contribution to trade and
environment policy discussions in the region.
Upon
fi
erent proposed groupings of
environmental goods was conducted by ESCWA at the request of Arab countries to
further inform the negotiations and policy-making process. The analysis reveals the
expected
fi
nalization of the list, trade analysis of these di
ff
fi
nding that while Arab imports of
environmental goods under most
de
nitions have been increasing, the largest share of these imports is sourced from
industrialized countries. However, while the Arab region represents the smallest market
for environmental goods, there has been a surprisingly sharp increase in the import of
environmental goods in recent years, with
fi
fi
gures doubling and even tripling based on
classi
nds, interestingly,
that Arab exports of environmental goods have also been growing, albeit not as sharply
as imports. Growth in exports has been mostly directed towards developing regions,
with ESCWA member countries exporting to Asia or within the region. This demon-
strates that despite common perceptions to the contrary, some degree of complemen-
tarity exists between environmental goods produced by developing countries. This
presents an opening for enhancing South-South trade through the liberalization of
certain environment goods, which supports regional policy goals for increasing interre-
gional trade and exports.
19
fi
cations proposed by the Arab Reference List. The analysis
fi
Emerging issues
The trade and environment policy-making process in the region has thus been concen-
trated on enhancing understanding of the major issues and increasing knowledge and
