WTO Members Must Be Committed to Environment

September 9, 1999

World Trade Organization members must modify WTO rules to include environmental concerns if they are serious about establishing a sustainable world economy, says the World Wildlife Fund. WTO rules and decisions must not undermine multilateral environmental agreements and national policies designed to protect the environment, the WWF says.

Environmental considerations must be considered in all relevant negotiating committees and not just confined to the existing, "ineffective" Committee on Trade and Environment, says WWF. Also a range of interested parties should work together to produce sustainability assessments of the social and environmental effects of proposed trade liberalization.

WWF believes the Seattle ministerial conference this fall should "clearly allow the use" of non-protectionist trade measures to achieve the environmental objectives of multilateral agreements. "A relatively simple measure for WTO members to take is to prioritize the elimination or reform of environmentally damaging subsidies, such as those provided to the agricultural and fisheries industries," says Charles Arden-Clarke, WWF official.