If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy for review by the BRIDGES staff to resources@ictsd.ch . Submissions of publications to ICTSD’s documentation centre would also be welcomed (see mailing address below).
TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE EC AND THE WTO. June 2002. By Jochem Wiers. This study describes and compares the rules of the European Community and the World Trade Organisation on the liberalisation of trade in goods and measures taken by the members of these organisations for the protection of the environment. It analyses the interpretation of these rules by the European Court of Justice and WTO panels and the Appellate Body, placing them in their institutional context and comparing them. Attention is paid to how the rules relate to Community and international harmonisation, and to the status of trade-restrictive measures that are based on environmentally damaging production methods. To obtain a copy of this publication, visit http://www.europalawpublishing.com
GLOBAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS KNOWLEDGE, ACCESS, AND DEVELOPMENT. November 2002. Edited by Peter Drahos and Ruth Mayne. Co-published by Oxfam Publishing and Palgrave (Macmillan). The WTO Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) globalises a set of intellectual property standards for the world’s information economies. According to this publication, these rules are becoming a focus of one of the most intense struggles to reform globalisation. For developing countries, access to knowledge and technology will be crucial to meeting their development objectives. Access to patented drugs to meet the health needs of their populations, and access to copyrighted material to meet the demand for mass education are two examples of many, the authors note. The publication analyses these potential threats, and suggests ways in which the intellectual property system can be changed to serve development goals. To obtain a copy of this publication, visit http://www.oxfam.org.uk/publications.
POWER POLITICS IN THE WTO. November 2002. Prepared by Focus on the Global South. According to this publication, the WTO prides itself for being a ‘rules-based’ organization. Without its rules, we are told that world trade will descend into the anarchy of the jungle. This publication reveals a different reality. Behind the veneer of trade ‘rules’, anti-democratic processes are used in WTO negotiations, as the powerful coerce developing countries into trade deals. The document draws on in-depth interviews with many developing country delegates to the WTO. Its first chapter provides accounts personally written by three delegates on their experience of the pressures and undemocratic processes they have encountered in the process of fighting for better positions in trade negotiations. To obtain a copy of this publication, visit www.focusweb.org/publications/Books/power-politics-in-the-WTO.pdf.
Call for Papers
LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT: STATE-OF-THE-ART THEORY AND PRACTICE. Greenleaf Publishing invites contributions for a Special Issue of "Greener Management International." The life-cycle metaphor plays an important role in a number of management disciplines, from its most common manifestation as the product life-cycle, to the market life-cycle and more recently the rise to prominence of the environmental life-cycle. This latter development has even led to the implementation of an international standard on life-cycle assessment (LCA). Papers are invited in the following areas: Conceptual and theoretical approaches to life-cycle management which further the understanding of the term; Links between life-cycle management and neighbouring fields such as integrated chain management, closed-loop supply chains, green supply chain management and industrial ecology; Managerial applications of LCA on the corporate, chain or public policy level; Actors’ perspectives on life-cycle management, addressing who is responsible for single activities along the life-cycle and how they interact; Empirical research such as surveys, case studies or action research on successful life-cycle management applications; and others. Abstract submission deadline is 31 December. To express interest, an abstract of no more than 300 words should be sent to: Konrad Saur (k.saur@fivewinds.com) and Stefan Seuring (Stefan.seuring@uni-oldenburg.de).
Position Vacancy
The Institute of European Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has a vacancy for a full-time researcher for a research project on "THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY’S ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT LAW (AND VICE-VERSA?)". The research project will address the impact of the process of globalisation, and in particular of the strengthening of the WTO and its dispute settlement procedures, on the implementation and further development of EC environmental law, as well as on the implementation and further development of the EC’s development law, i.e. the legal framework of trade relations, development cooperation and environmental cooperation between the EC and developing countries, especially the ACP States, in the context of sustainable development. In other terms, the project will look at the effects of globalisation on the internal and external sustainable development policies of the European Union. Requirements for the position include: basic law degree with good study results; knowledge/experience in the field of European law, environmental law, international trade law and/or development law; and excellent command of English. This appointment is for an initial period of two years, renewable once; starting on 1 January 2003.The deadline for applications is 29 November. For further information, visit http://www.ies.be.
Electronic Resource
TRADE CAMPAIGN CASE STUDIES. November 2002. Prepared by Christian Aid. This website provides access to eight different case studies concerning farmers and producers in the developing world and their struggles with global trade policies. Christian Aid is campaigning to make trade work for the poor by rewriting the rules and practices that govern trade, with poverty reduction as their highest priority. To view these case studies, visit http://www.christianaid.org.uk/campaign/trade/stories/index.htm.