Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 24 • 26th June 2002
N. American Environment Ministers Meet On Cross-Border Issues
The Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC) convened in Ottawa, Ontario, for its two-day annual session on 18 June. The Council is the CEC’s executive body and consists of the environment ministers from the three North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) parties — Canada, Mexico and the US. Key issues discussed included environmental challenges and opportunities of the North American electricity market, transborder movements of hazardous wastes, and transparency in trade and environment areas. In related news, the CEC will be launching an investigation into allegations of transgenic corn contamination of Mexican crops in Oaxaca.
The Montreal-based CEC was created by a NAFTA side agreement to promote cooperation among Canada, Mexico and the US in the protection of the North American environment. The Council — which currently consists of David Anderson, Minister of Environment for Canada, Victor Lichtinger, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources for Mexico, and Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency — meets every year to review and direct the program activities of the CEC and, in the process, receive public input and advice from its public advisory committee and various stakeholders.
Greater cooperation on energy and electricity urged
In the sector of energy and the environment, the Council agreed to establish a North American Air Working Group to "provide guidance to the Council and facilitate future cooperative work on air related issues". Reflecting a general drive towards standardisation, the environment ministers also agreed to conduct a comparative study of the air quality standards, regulations, planning, and enforcement practices in the three countries, and to conduct a survey to obtain information on the comparability of North American environmental standards governing construction and operation of electricity generating facilities. They further committed to address challenges and opportunities around emissions trading systems.
Concurrent with the Council meeting, the CEC released a report on the environmental challenges and opportunities of the North American electricity market (see http://www.cec.org). Inter alia, the report advocates increased cooperation among the NAFTA parties on environmental protection, collection of emission information, improved impact assessment, the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and increased technology transfer. Despite the push towards standardisation of regulation in the electricity field, however, the report draws out a number of areas of incompatibility amongst the three parties that could make it difficult to achieve what one source termed a "harmonious regime".
Chemicals and hazardous wastes
Ministers agreed to develop a new North American Regional Action Plan targeting the harmful pesticides lindane and chlordane and proceed with a pilot project to track hazardous waste movement between Canada and the US by means of an electronic notification system. The Council also agreed to undertake a feasibility study for a pilot project on electronic tracking of hazardous waste movements between Mexico and the US, with particular attention to capacity building in Mexico and starting with a prioritised list of substances.
Trade and environment
In their communiqué, the three environment ministers encouraged further public participation in the area of trade and environment. Specifically, they committed to "take the necessary steps to facilitate public input on the work on Chapter 11 [investment provisions] of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) underway by the Chapter 11 Experts’ Group of the NAFTA Free Trade Commission." The Council will be working together with the NAFTA parties’ trade ministers to arrange a forum where interested parties can express their views on the operation and implementation of the Chapter.
The communiqué also made reference to a public symposium on the links between trade and the environment in North America being organised for early 2003. The Council views the symposium as providing "an opportunity to compare approaches underway at the national and international levels on environmental assessments of trade in North America, further engage the public in this work, and identify opportunities for policy integration in support of sustainable development." A call for papers is available on the CEC website (see link, above).
Ministers also agreed to set up a sustainable agriculture fund in order to encourage small and medium-size sustainable agricultural enterprises.
CEC to investigate GMO corn allegations
Responding to civil society concerns that corn varieties imported from the US to Mexico have contaminated native Mexican crops, a representative from the tripartite CEC said on 20 June that the organisation would launch an investigation in mid-July into the issue. Results could be forthcoming in nine to 10 months.
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley published studies last year saying they had found genetically modified corn in the mountains of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. However, the cultivation of transgenic corn was banned in Mexico in 1998 due to fears it would contaminate the hundreds of wild domestic varieties. The region is believed by many to be the birthplace of corn. Many believe that the contaminated corn arrived on trucks carrying subsidised food to poor villagers.
Maria Colin, a legal adviser for Greenpeace in Mexico, said she expected the CEC study to confirm the presence of transgenic corn strains in Oaxaca and pressure Mexico’s government to ban imports of the corn. "It’s extremely difficult to stop (transgenic corn contamination) and to not have more cases like those already reported in Oaxaca," she said.
As with other reports initiated by the CEC secretariat under Article 13 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), the study will include input from competent international and national organisations, sector organisations, the private sector, interested members of civil society, as well as the three NAAEC Parties.
ICTSD reporting; "NAFTA group to study transgenic corn in Mexico," REUTERS, 21 June 2002.