Archived press release

Trade talks collapse brings new hope for the poorest and the environment

22 June 2007

Friends of the Earth today welcomed the collapse of the G4 world trade negotiations in Potsdam, Germany on 21^st June. The current proposals would have further impoverished the world's poorest people and caused irreparable damage to the environment.

Friends of the Earth Trade Campaigner Joe Zacune said:

"The collapse of these secretive trade talks is a good opportunity to develop an alternative approach to trade that works for developing countries and the environment. The proposals on the table have been driven primarily by the EU and the US which put the commercial interests of their corporations before the needs of poor communities and their natural resources. Indeed all latest studies show that the poorest developing countries and their environment would lose out from a WTO deal. Hopefully this signals the nail in the coffin of the Doha Round."

The so-called `Doha Development Agenda' is not about development. Recent studies show that the poorest developing countries will lose out from current proposals [1]. It is clear that the interests of the largest and most powerful countries and their trans-national companies continue to dominate the WTO's agenda. [2]

Furthermore, consideration of the disastrous potential global environmental impact of current negotiating proposals is virtually non-existent within the WTO. [3] This is in spite of the fact that there is increasing evidence elsewhere, including from studies commissioned by the European Commission, that escalating international trade in natural resources is likely to damage global biodiversity and local economies.

Forests and fish and fish products are both sectors slated for complete or exceptionally high levels of liberalisation in the WTO's current negotiations. Yet worldwide, some 60 million indigenous people are almost completely reliant on forest resources for their livelihoods - for food and fuel, medicines and materials - and some 36 million people directly employed in small-scale fishing. [4] Similarly, current negotiations to expand international trade in agricultural products could threaten the livelihoods of millions of small and peasant farmers worldwide.

Notes

[1] The following studies highlight how the world's poorest countries would lose out from the current proposals on the table at the WTO. Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, "EU Sustainability Impact Assessment of Proposed WTO Negotiations: Final Report", July 2006
www.sia-trade.org/wto/FinalPhase/FINAL_OVERALL%20PROJECTJul06.pdf (PDF)

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, "New focus needed for Doha Round: Trade talks failed to address developing country problems", August 2006 www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000375/index.html

K. Gallagher, Boston University and T. Wise, Tufts University, "Doha Round and Developing Countries: Will the Doha deal do more harm than good?", April 2006

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Winners and Losers: Impact of the Doha Round on Developing Countries", Sandra Polaski, 2006 www.carnegieendowment.org/files/BWfinal.pdf (PDF)

A study by the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) from March 2006 concluded that the World Bank's strategies on trade have not delivered on employment and poverty reduction. www.worldbank.org/ieg/trade/docs/press_release_trade_evaluation.pdf(PDF)

Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, "Sustainability Impact Assessment of Proposed WTO Negotiations: Final Report for the Forest Sector Study", June 2005
www.sia-trade.org/wto/final%20report%20page.shtml

The European Commission-financed sustainability impact assessment on the forest sector, for example, demonstrates that there are likely to be significant and irreversible impacts on forests and biodiversity in `biodiversity hotspot' countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, countries in the Congo Basin and Papua New Guinea. In addition, countries that currently protect their forest industries using trade measures can expect those industries to shrink and possibly collapse. Sustainability Impact Assessment of Proposed WTO Negotiations: Final Report for the Forest Sector Study, Marko Katila and Markku Simula, Savcor Indufor Oy, Finland, in association with the Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, UK, with financial assistance from the Commission of the European Communities, 19 June 2005
www.sia-trade.org/wto/final%20report%20page.shtml

[2] Some WTO papers are surprisingly explicit about engagement with industry. For example: "This forest products proposal is driven by industry interest. The Santa Catalina Group, which has industry representatives from both developed and developing countries, has met with NAMA negotiators on several occasions to discuss its members' priorities" Market Access for Non-Agricultural Products, Tariff Liberalization in the Forests Product Sector, Communication from Canada, Hong Kong China, New Zealand, Thailand and the United States, TN/MA/W/64, 18 October 2005 (05-4784), World Trade Organization, Geneva.

[3] The WTO's Committee on Trade and Environment is mandated to oversee the environmental impacts of all the WTO's current negotiations but has not done so. Indeed, there is an unwritten rule in the WTO that multilateral environmental or sustainability impact assessments are not permitted, because they are too controversial, as Pascal Lamy himself confirmed in a meeting with civil society, 17 October 2005.

[4] Worldwide, some 60 million indigenous people are almost completely reliant on forest resources for their livelihoods - for food and fuel, medicines and materials. Almost 40 million people are involved in fisheries globally and 90 percent of these are employed in small-scale artisanal fishing.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust