DEVELOPED COUNTRY COTTON SUBSIDIES AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: UNRAVELLING THE IMPACTS ON AFRICA. Briefing Paper by the Overseas Development Institute (July 2004). Cotton trade and production are highly distorted by policy. More than one-fifth of world cotton producer earnings during 2001/02 came from government support to the sector. Support to cotton producers has been greatest in the US, followed by China and the EU. Cotton subsidies encourage overproduction, which is then sold on the world market. To access the paper visit http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/briefing/bp_july04_cotton.pdf
UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF COTTON SUBSIDIES ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. By Ian Gillson, Colin Poulton, Kelvin Balcombe, and Sheila Page (Overseas Development Institute, May 2004). Models developed to investigate the impact of cotton subsidies tend to generate results that support the contention that US subsidies, by virtue of their absolute magnitude, are particularly damaging and that the impacts of current EU cotton support are relatively small. Research conducted by ODI and Imperial College challenges a number of critical assumptions upon which contemporary models are based and in doing so, demonstrates that EU cotton subsidies may have a disproportionate and significant impact on developing country cotton production, particularly on those of its traditional trading partners, which include West African countries. For further information and to access the report visit http://www.odi.org.uk/iedg/Projects/cotton_report.html
WHY MARKET ACCESS REFORMS MATTER. By Peter Gallagher (Australian Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, July 2004). This report brings together pertinent research results from a variety of World Bank, IMF, Australian government (ABARE), WTO and UNCTAD research publications, presented in a series of concise charts and diagrams. Includes estimates of the levels of protection in different groups of markets (industrialised and developing), the direction and composition of agricultural trade flows and projections of the impact of different approaches to agricultural trade liberalisation, contrasting the impacts of cutting export subsidies and reducing market access barriers. To access the report visit http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/GLC/04-110sum.html
CLIMATE POLICY BEYOND 2012: A SURVEY OF LONG-TERM TARGETS AND FUTURE FRAMEWORKS. By Asbjørn Torvanger, Michelle Twena and Jonas Vevatne (CICERO, July 2004). This report is based on a comprehensive and structured literature review of key issues associated with long-term goals for climate policy, and to the framework for implementing climate policy. The study provides a basis for working with global climate policy after 2012, whether the Kyoto Protocol enters into force or not. The main challenges are to achieve broader participation in future climate agreements than has been the case with the Kyoto Protocol, especially with respect to the USA and developing countries, and to achieve deep emissions reductions to prevent human-induced climate change from getting out of control. The discussion of climate goals is divided into advantages and challenges presented by long-term climate goals, goals connected to the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, goals connected to the impacts of climate change, and the issue of setting short-term emissions targets as a step in meeting long-term goals. The discussion of implementing climate policy is divided into architecture of future climate policy, different types of national commitments under a global agreement, and differentiation of national emissions reductions targets.To access the report visit http://www.cicero.uio.no/publications/detail.asp?publication_id=2776
"Climate change and the WTO: Opportunities to Motivate State Action on Climate Change Through the World Trade Organisation". By Meinhard Doelle in RECIEL: REVIEW OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY & INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 13 (1, 2004) pp. 85-103. Meinhard Doelle examines the possible trade implications of actions taken under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.