TRADE PREFERENCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS. By Scott Vaughan, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP). Trade, Equity, and Development Series Issue no. 5. According to the author, for the WTO, the most important development in a decade related to trade-environment linkages is the agreement to liberalise commerce in environmental goods and services. If properly executed, the agreement will increase the availability of "green" goods in global markets and break the North- South deadlock that has paralysed discussion on the trade regime governing such goods. To download visit: http://www.ceip.org/files/Publications/TED_5.asp?from=pubdate.
"Fighting back: the growth of alternative trade" by Mark LeClair in DEVELOPMENT 46 (1, 2003): 66-73. The author looks at the growing influence of fair trade, the marketing and sale of products at greater than free trade prices, on international trade. He argues that fair trade represents a unique response to the perceived inequities of unrestricted free trade and through a survey conducted with fair trade organizations shows how it is operating at the moment to balance inequalities, though he warns there is a precarious future for the artisans relying on such a system.
"Consumer sovereignty, economic efficiency and the trade liberalisation debate" by John Gowdy and Marsha Walton in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 3 (, 2003): 1-13. The authors examine the policies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as an example of the conflict in neoclassical theory between consumer sovereignty and efficiency in production. They claim that WTO policies attempt to institutionalise ‘progress through increased efficiency’ by ruling out any restriction of trade based on national sovereignty, or the social or environmental context of the commodity, and present evidence for this in WTO policy statements.
UKRAINE: WTO ACCESSION STRATEGY. By the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy and European Integration with the support of the AHT Consulting Group provides on overview of the Ukrainian accession to the WTO. The report states the conviction that Ukraine will become a WTO member, and that its accession to the WTO will become a powerful engine driving economic reforms, which in turn will help create a foundation for achieving increased economic growth rates. To access the report visit: http://www.aht.org/eng/articles/2003/wto/wto.pdf.
DEVELOPING COUNTRY PROPOSALS ON MODALITIES FOR FURTHER REFORM IN AGRICULTURE. By Luisa Bernal (Action Aid and CAFOD). The paper summarises the different proposals made by developing countries on issues of development and food security, including the food security mechanism, balancing mechanism, and special safeguards. To access the paper, visit: http://www.cafod.org.uk/policy/proposals2003.shtml.
DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE IN THE WTO: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE DEVELOPMENT BOX, THE EU’S FOOD SECURITY BOX AND THE HARBINSON DRAFT MODALITIES. By Duncan Green and Tim Rice (Action Aid and CAFOD). The paper provides a detailed comparison of the three proposals on key issues and concludes that, rather than taking up developing country proposals for the inclusion of permanent and integral rules for special and differential treatment in the Agreement on Agriculture (the ‘development box’), the EU merely offers a minor extension of special safeguards to developing countries as well as the ‘possibility’ of allowing greater flexibility in domestic support. While the Harbinson draft goes a little further, it too fails the development test on a number of counts. To access the paper, visit: http://www.cafod.org.uk/policy/harbinson2003.shtml.