The global environmental issues include climate change, ozone depletion, marine dumping, deforestation, and biodiversity. However the objective of my thesis is not to provide detailed scientific treatment of the nature of the major environmental challenges facing the world , but rather to explore the interaction between Trade and Environment. Actually, as Annie Taylor explains in her book, Global Trade and Global Social Issues, there is a debate between Trade and Environment which has emerged in 1980's. Since 1980's, global environmental issues are rising against international political and economic agendas. Awareness of environmental issues has moved from isolated incidence with a national or local focus to an understanding of a global crisis that links environmental degradation to current development patterns, and especially Trade. Thus, Chatterjee and Finger, two writers argue that global environment ‘were actually a far more serious challenge and critique of industrial development than anything else that came before.'
In response to the increase of environmental issues, institutions have responded with some reports, like the Brundtland report. These reports explained the link between environment and development and introduce for the first time the concept of sustainable development.
This concept will be developed deeply with Porter and Welsh Brown in 1991 in their book, Global Environmental Politics. Consequently, at the beginning of the 1980's, environmental issues, as biophysical changes, began to be implemented in the global environment agenda. However environmental issues linked to international trade were not considered as relevant. Then, at the beginning of 1991, an important event, the breakdown of the Uruguay Round of GATT talks, have forced to consider Trade and environment as a specific issue. By the way, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) has decided to develop a working group on Environmental Measures in International Trade (EMIT).
[...] However, this approach has some problems because international law only applies to governments and has no effective sanctions when the country refuses to sign a treaty. For instance, France has rejected the International Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Consequently, we can assert that governments accept some international laws but reject others for political reasons. And we understand that the political aspect is missing from this legal approach. Second, due to the neutral approach, international law accepts the definition of sustainable development as starting point of this assumption where trade and environment are supporting themselves.[10] Considering sustainable development as a starting point of this assumption contribute to implement sustainable development as a part of ‘common sense'. [...]
[...] In response to this concern, in November 1971, the GATT council of representatives has decided to establish a Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade, known as the EMIT group. Until 1991, this group has not been activated. However, there were other developments within the GATT: - 1973/1979: Tokyo Round of Trade Negotiations: negotiation on the agreement on technical barriers to trade, known as ‘Standards code', in order to avoid those environmental measures will become obstacles to trade. - 1989: Establishment of Working Group on the Export of Domestically Prohibited Goods and Other Hazardous Substances. [...]
[...] A research proposal for the Masters Thesis; Environment and Trade in the Word Trade Organization Problematic: Environment and Trade in the Word Trade Organization: How should it be managed? Introduction: The global environmental issues include climate change, ozone depletion, marine dumping, deforestation, and biodiversity. However the objective of my thesis is not to provide detailed scientific treatment of the nature of the major environmental challenges facing the world[1], but rather to explore the interaction between Trade and Environment. Actually, as Annie Taylor explains in her book, Global Trade and Global Social Issues, there is a debate between Trade and Environment which has emerged in 1980's. [...]
[...] And we can observe that WTO is beginning to be interested in all the implications of trade and investment on environment. In this way, WTO has created a commission called “trade and environment”. We can assume that there is a natural conflict between trade policy and policies relating to the environment. For instance, we can distinguish different examples, like the conflicting obligations in multilateral Environmental agreements (MEAs) and WTO trade agreements; eco-labeling as a barrier to trade; trade liberalization and economic growth leading to resource depletion and environmental degradation As we have understood, WTO has to establish a dialogue between trade and environment. [...]
[...] Moreover, it doesn't deal with the cause of environmental degradation. Actually, questions about the implication of international trade in the environmental degradation are ignored. It offers possibility to focus on policy reforms. In this way, a neo-liberal approach gives us opportunity to develop “process of reconciliation” between the priorities of environmentalists and free traders where the actors are environmental economists and international lawyers. This legal approach focuses on the relationship between trade and environment, which are in international treaties and agreements.[8] Neo-liberalists try to explain potential conflicts between international trade and environmental policies in order to know how to avoid this conflict. [...]
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