Book review
Trade-environment discourse needs to be viewed within
socio-environmental justice
Shawkat Alam, Sustainable Development and Free Trade: Institutional Approaches, Routledge, London and New York, 2008, pp. xxi+288
This stimulating book explores complex inter-relationship between sustainable development and trade, which is eminently topical issue in view of ongoing economic globalisation process. This well researched and thought provoking book is a most welcome addition to the growing literature on the subject. The author, who is currently working as a faculty member of Macquarie University of Australia, is well reputed scholar on the international trade law. Divided into nine chapters, the book presents a comprehensive survey of current debate on environment and free trade at both national and international policy levels. The central argument of the book is that the inherent inequities in the current international trading system and the inequitable power relationship between the North and the South must be addressed to advance global quest for sustainable development. The book is exhaustive and detailed study on the subject with extensive survey of global and regional trends, analysis of various perspectives of free traders and environmentalists and empirical survey of relevant international instruments.
Chapter 1 showed how recent decades have witnessed a shift from traditional discourse of economic growth and its ecological consequences to increasingly widespread recognition of the need for the integration of economy and ecology. It also examines how economic activity can be reconciled with concerns about the environment in order to promote sustainable development particularly in developing countries. It is underlined that trade - environment issues have to be addressed in a pragmatic way by considering the special needs and economic status of developing countries. Trade-environment discourse needs to be viewed within the broader framework of sustainable development, poverty alleviation, intergenerational equity and socio-environmental justice.
Chapter 2 examines the role played by the UN and its institutions in the integration of trade and environment and their inadequacies in achieving the goals of sustainable development. It has been observed that while the role of the UN is unique and indispensable in providing the global framework of trade and environment on the basis of equity, it has been increasingly marginalized from the main thrust of policy making in areas of international trade, and development, which are now seen more as the purview of the Bretton Woods institutions such as the World Bank and IMF. Given the fact that participation of developing states in decision-making process of these institutions is minimal in the area of trade and hence, decisions of such institutions do not reflect their legitimate interests. Therefore, it has been argued by the author that the decision making process of Bretton Woods institutions should be more democratic and there should be coordination and cooperation among UN entities, Bretton Woods institutions, and the WTO in order to ensure that various programmes and initiatives on environment and trade are mutually supportive.
Having examined the normative context of sustainable development, the chapter 3 highlights on the trade-environment interface within a legal and institutional context. In particular, it examines the main principles and rules of WTO which are relevant for the examination of the trade-environment issues and the dilemmas they pose for trade and development prospects of developing countries. In that context, it conjures up the pressing issues for developing countries in relation to multilateral trade liberalisation and environmental issues. The chapter has outlined the need for WTO to modify some of its rules in order to ensure that environment-related trade measures consistently takes into account the special needs of developing countries.
Chapter 4 focuses on the development of the trade-environment linkage in the WTO Ministerial Conferences in the post-Uruguay Round Context and highlights the difficulties that developing countries are encountering in dealing with these new developments. According to author, division and distrust between developed and developing countries in key issues of trade liberalisation must be addressed through multilateral cooperation to make global trading system operational.
Next three chapters of the book deal with linkages between free trade and sustainable development in the regional trading systems, and provide a comparative analysis of the principles and policies used by the EU, NAFTA and APEC in integrating trade and environment. It has been observed that the harmonisation of environmental concerns with economic integration in the regional trade agreements can further promote progress in the multilateral trading system.
Chapter 8 surveys use of trade measures under multilateral environmental agreements to regulate environmentally harmful trade. While trade sanctions are considered as an integral means of achieving environmental objectives, there is genuine apprehension that these environmental trade measures have the potential to be used as disguised protectionist measures against competition from the developing world. However, trade measure as enforcement tool has only limited success. Cost of compliance with trade measures appears to be increasingly difficult for the developing countries due to the absence of technology transfer from developed countries, resource constraints and lack of institutional capacity.
The last chapter of the book concentrates on challenges ahead of achieving sustainable development and argues that trade-environment issues have to be addressed in a pragmatic manner by considering the economic and social problems and development needs of developing countries on the basis of equity. For this reason, the competing North-South interests as manifested in the global economic and environmental governance must be reconciled as a matter of urgency.
The book is extremely readable, well researched and well-structured. The language of the book is lucid and arguments have been presented in a convincing and persuasive style. The book contains useful bibliography and indexes. No doubt, it will be of great interest to the students of environmental and trade law, academics and policy makers and will attract wider readership.
Dr. Abdullah Al Faruque, Associate Professor & Chairman, Dept. of Law, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
