Trade liberalisation and environment linkages

ONE of the most controversial aspects of the negotiations at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 was an attempt by some delegations to require that multilateral environmental agreements be made fully compatible with trade rules before they could be ratified. Four years on, the environmental community remains fearful that trade will destroy years of environmental achievement, and the trade community that green measures will restore the obstacles to trade it has tried to remove through negotiations. It is hoped that this volume will stimulate the national and global debate on these issues, and help South African policy-makers and other role players to reach a common perspective on aligning the county's trade policies with the protection of its valuable resources.