WTO MUST PRACTICE “SAFE TRADE” - GREENPEACE
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WTO MUST PRACTICE “SAFE TRADE” - GREENPEACE |
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29 November, 1999 SEATTLE -- The test at the Seattle trade talks this week is whether Governments agree to practice “safe trade” or continue to undermine existing environmental agreements, Greenpeace said today. On the eve of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Seattle, the international environmental organisation released its report, “Safe Trade in the 21st Century” (1). The report contains eight key recommendations that Greenpeace sees as the measure of the extent to which the WTO member states are willing to go beyond rhetoric and take effective action on the environment. “International trade must not rule the world at the expense of existing commitments to environmental protection, democracy, and equity,” said Greenpeace spokesman Remi Parmentier in Seattle. “Safe Trade must encompass the precautionary principle, whereby when there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation”. “As a consequence it is the one who challenges an environmental measure that must demonstrate that it is arbitrary or discriminatory”. A particular test this week will be the outcome of the “genetically engineered ploy” led by the US and Canada who are trying to use the WTO to force Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into global food and agriculture systems. The draft Seattle Ministerial Declaration contains a proposal by the US and Canada that the WTO establish a working party on Biotechnology to look at the “adequacy and effectiveness” of existing rules on GMOs. (2) Greenpeace says it is ironic, given that the US and Canada have this year vigorously opposed negotiations on effective international rules to govern the use of GMOs in food and agriculture. A Biosafety Protocol, under the Convention on Biodiversity, was to set rules on the international movements of GMOs which would give countries a right to say no to GMOs on environmental grounds (threats to biodiversity). But talks collapsed after the US and Canada led opposition to the inclusion of GM commodity crops in the agreement. A WTO Biotechnology Working Group, if agreed, is likely to undermine the adoption of the Biosafety Protocol scheduled in January. Greenpeace also warned that the recent announcement by the White House on environmental assessment of free trade agreements contains "outrageous loopholes that demonstrate that the US are only pursuing the selfish, short-term interest of their transnational corporations.” The 16 November White House Executive Order announced by Vice- President Al Gore is a clear demonstration of US double-standards in environmental policy. The order indicates that future free trade agreements will be the subject of environmental assessments. But a closer examination reveals that “the focus of environmental reviews will be impacts in the United States” , and that only "as appropriate and prudent, reviews may also examine global and transboundary impacts”. (3) "Take Forests, for example; in plain language this means, ‘we shall protect US forests, but we don’t give a damn about the Amazon’", said Parmentier. "This is a dereliction of the US ethical responsibility, given that they are the biggest global consumer in the world with a corresponding global environmental footprint". In Seattle on 1 December, Greenpeace will hold a "Safe Trade in Practice" seminar with keynote speakers UN Environment Programme Executive Director Dr Klaus Toepfer and Danish Environment and Energy Minister Svend Auken. It will be held from 13:00 to 15:00 in the West Room in the NGO Centre (Hotel Madison Renaissance), and will be a practical course on how to trade safely: implementation of the precautionary principle.
Notes: (1) "Safe Trade in the XXIst Century", written jointly by Greenpeace International and the Center for international Environmental Law (CIEL) is available at http://www.greenpeace.org/politics/wto/ or from Cindy Baxter at 1-202-258 3027. (2) The US and Canadian proposals, contained in documents WT/GC/W/265 and WT/GC/W/288 have been incorporated, in square brackets, in the latest Draft of the Seattle Declaration: [“We agree to establish a Working Party on Biotechnology. The Working Party shall have a fact-finding mandate to consider the adequacy and effectiveness of existing rules as well as the capacity of WTO members to implement these rules]”. (3) President Clinton´s Executive Order of November 16, 1999 "Environmental Review of Trade Agreements", Section 5 (b). Greenpeace guidelines for Safe Traders: After conducting an open and careful assessment of the social and environmental impacts of existing trade policies, you will: Recognise and respect Multilateral Environmental Agreements; Rewardsustainable production and consumption patterns and internalise the costs to the environment; Endorseand implement the Precautionary Principle, including a reversal of the burden of proof; Acceptnational trade-related measures to protect the environment; Acceptdistinctions based on Production or Processing Methods (PPMs), eco and other labelling schemes; Becometransparent and open, and invite NGOs to participate in WTO proceedings; Eliminateenvironmentally destructive subsidies (i.e. in the forest, agriculture, fisheries, and energy sectors); Limitthe expansion of the WTO, unless Safe Trade has become practice. GREENPEACE IN SEATTLE: - Rémi Parmentier (GPI Head of Political Unit), Head of Greenpeace Seattle Delegation, contact point for all issues. Languages: French, English and Spanish; +1-202-251 6295 - Kevin Stairs, specialist
on toxics and precautionary principle. Language: English;
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