Trade and Environment

Trade and the Environment: The WTO’s effect on the enviroment following the second World War, a document known as GATT, or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, was established with hopes of increasing trade and helping ease tensions between nations. Through a system of rounds and meetings, tariffs between countries were lowered, increasing trade. The past half century since the creation of GATT has seen an immense increase in worldwide trade. Resulting from one of these "rounds," where nations meet to discuss trade issues, an organization known as the WTO, or the World Trade Organization, was created after the Uruguay Round of 1986-1994. With the lofty goals of uniting countries for the benefits of economic prosperity, the WTO has put together a series of documents explaining its positions; a constitution of sorts.

One of the major issues that is fought by activists and environmentalists worldwide is the WTO’s effect on the environment. In the past year alone, several massive protests have occurred at the meeting of WTO officials in several different countries. Protests such as the ones seen in Seattle and Prague are examples of the reactions taken by opponents to the WTO. These protesters have a very legitimate point that needs to be heard, and they are backed with substantial evidence supporting their claim of the harmful effects of this organization not only in environmental terms, but in basic human rights issues as well. The World Trade Organization is a harmful force to Earth’s biosphere and has shown increasingly harmful effects on the environment. The WTO as an Organization As mentioned before, the WTO was created on January 1, 1995, as a result of the Uruguay Round Negotiations. Currently consisting of 140 members worldwide, it is based with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and has a secretary staff of over five hundred. The organization of the WTO consists of a head Ministerial Conference, with branches of a General Council, Trade Review Body, and Dispute Settlement Body. Below these branches lie several councils and committees to deal with many different trade issues. One branch consists of a committee with the name Trade and the Environment, which concerns itself with issues relating to trade and the environment. Overseeing the organization of the WTO is the director-general, currently Michael Moore. The basis for all WTO decisio...

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... been quite successful. More and more citizens are becoming aware of the urgent problems associated with free trade. The WTO claims that it seeks to promote free trade, and I think if that is the one goal, all of us would encourage them to do so. However, free trade will be impossible in this world, given the inequalities of poor countries and the general nature of humanity. The WTO is composed of rich corporate men and women who seek only to increase money flow worldwide. Currently they are seeking to expand control over individual governments, forcing countries to nullify laws passed which they declare to "limit trade." It is clearly obvious that the WTO is already having detrimental effects on the environment, as seen in the example of fishing regulations in LDC’s who cannot afford to protect against unneeded deaths of endangered species. To help the problem, NGO’s have risen up all over the world to fight these deforesting promotions among other environmental concerns. Yet the WTO is fatally flawed beyond correction. A new organization is needed, one that will consider environmental concerns and not only consider whether or not a corporation will increase its wealth