A PRICE TOO HIGH: HEALTH IMPACTS OF AIR POLLUTION IN SOUTHERN CHINA. Civic Exchange, 11 June, 2008. The study - conducted by leading health, science and public policy experts - reveals new regional data on the health costs of poor air quality. Annual deaths attributable to air pollution - based on 2006 data - are estimated at 10,000 in Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta. In spite of the enormous health costs of deteriorating air quality, there is surprisingly little research in the region into the links between air pollution and poor health. The report argues the current air pollution indexes used in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta are not merely insufficient but misleading as they are not directly linked with health protection. The report can be accessed at http://www.civic-exchange.org/eng/upload/files/200806_pricetoohigh.pdf.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS FROM THE AMERICAS. By Kevin P. Gallagher, May 2008. This new report from the Working Group on Development and the Environment in the Americas brings together Latin American economists to analyse the economic and environmental impacts of foreign investment in Latin America during its period of economic reforms. The report finds that Latin America received unprecedented amounts of foreign investment during the reform period but such investment had a very limited impact on economic growth and often accentuated environmental degradation in the region. The report concludes with policy recommendations to increase investment in a manner more conducive to sustainable development. To download the report and background papers please refer to http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/WorkingGroup_FDI.htm.
THE EU-CARIFORUM EPA ON SERVICES INVESTMENTS AND COMMERCE IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER ACP COUNTRIES. South Centre, May 2008. At the close of 2007, the EU completed a comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the nations of the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM). The EPA with the Cariforum is comprehensive in the sense that it extends to trade in goods, services and all the new generation issues including government procurement, competition law, and others. This analytical note provides an overview of key provisions related to trade in services in the Cariforum EPA text and comments on the possible implications for other ACP countries in Africa and the Pacific, which may soon initiate negotiations for the reciprocal liberalisation of trade in services with Europe. To access the analytic note, please refer to http://www.southcentre.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=45&Itemid=68.
LOW-SKILLED WORKERS AND BILATERAL, REGIONAL, AND UNILATERAL INITIATIVES: LESSONS FOR THE GATS MODE 4 NEGOTIATIONS AND OTHER AGREEMENTS. The Geneva Trade and Human Development Unit (GTHDU) of the UNDP Inclusive Globalization Cluster, May 2008. This paper addresses how bilateral and unilateral schemes manage the temporary movement of low-skilled workers by examining their various features. The aim is to draw useful lessons for the GATS negotiations on Mode 4 and for future agreements that address Mode 4. The study examines the operational, institutional, financial, welfare and human development features of several arrangements to derive their positive and negative aspects. Based on the best practices that characterise these agreements, the paper suggests how some of these features could be incorporated in the context of the GATS Mode 4 commitments and offers. Underlying this learning-based approach is the larger objective of maximising development benefits and of contributing towards a more strengthened and holistic development-friendly policy position on migration and the short-term movement of persons. The report can be found at http://www.undp.org/poverty/docs/inclglob/pov_red_low_skilled_workers_report.pdf