If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy or review by the BRIDGES staff to Marianne Jacobsen.
"Domestic Import Regulations for Genetically Modified Organisms and their Compatibility with WTO Rules," by Heike Baumuller. Published by IISD and ICTSD Trade Knowledge Network, August 2003. This paper surveys the regulatory regimes in selected countries for imports of genetically modified agricultural products. It also addresses some questions related to the regimes’ compatibility with WTO rules, including the trade-restrictiveness of mandatory traceability and labelling requirements, whether GMO regulations covering substantially equivalent GM products might be trade-discriminatory, the role of precaution as a justification for an import ban on GMOs, and how the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety might impact on a possible dispute at the WTO.
A LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN: WHO REALLY RUNS EU TRADE DECISION MAKING? By Elizabeth Drury and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), October 2003. The report raises concerns about the dangers in allowing a "small group of influential trade specialists to dominate policy making". It points out that this could result in a narrowly focussed debate, which ignores broader issues such as the call to put sustainable development at the heart of trade policy.
BRIDGING INFORMATION GAPS BETWEEN FARMERS, POLICYMAKERS, RESEARCHERS AND DEVELOPMENT AGENTS, by G. Wesseler and W. Brinkman. Published by Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), 2003. Information is a prerequisite for development, both in agriculture and more broadly. Information gaps are direct impediments to development and need to be overcome. On the other hand, it is not just any kind of information that is required. Information overload is quickly becoming a problem not only for policy-makers and researchers in the North, but to anyone with access to the Internet. To be useful, information has to be relevant, reliable, timely, and delivered via an appropriate medium.
ENERGY LAW AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Edited by Adrian J Bradbrook and Richard L Ottinger. Published by the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, 2003. There are 11 chapters on different aspects of the subject written by leading experts in their fields. Professor Jose Goldemberg of Brazil describes the relationship of development and energy, while Jeff McNeely, IUCN considers the relationship between energy and biodiversity. Professor Jacqueline Lang Weaver of Houston Law School covers sustainable development in the petroleum sector. Renewable energy and energy efficiency are described by Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger and Fred Zalcman of the Pace University School of Law, with wind promotion highlighted with a Denmark case study by Dr. Rikke Munk Hansen, from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
THE WTO PROMOTES TRADE, STRONGLY BUT UNEVENLY, by Arvind Subramanian and Shang-Jin Wei. Published by the International Monetary Fund, September 2003. This working paper tries to prove that the GATT/WTO has had a powerful and positive, but uneven impact on trade. GATT/WTO membership for industrial countries has been associated with a large increase in imports estimated at about 40 percent of world trade. The same has not been true for developing country members, although those that joined after the Uruguay Round have benefited from increased imports. These results are consistent with the history and design of the institution, which presided over significant trade liberalisation and largely exempted developing countries from the obligations to liberalise under the principle of special and differential treatment; but attempted to redress the latter by imposing greater obligations on developing country members that joined after the Uruguay Round.
"Lost in Transit - Global CFC Smuggling Trends and the Need for Faster Phase Out," by Ezra Clark. Edited by Julian Newman. Published by the Environmental Investigation Agency, 2003. This report reveals the global nature of the illegal trade in CFCs and the role that transit countries play by facilitating the diversion of CFCs onto the black market. Singapore and other significant transit points in the illegal CFC trade such as Dubai have strong economies founded on their role as major trade hubs, however they do not have sufficient control to monitor the movement of CFCs through their ports.
PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION AND FARMERS’ RIGHTS IN INDIA - TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING. By P. Cullet and R. Kolluru. Published by the International Environmental Law Research Centre, 2003. This article looks at some of the reasons for the introduction of PVP, in particular the links between PVP and food security. The authors survey the measures, which have been proposed internationally and examine the regime in India. The article argues that the new regime in India has been driven by it’s desire to satisfy international obligations under TRIPS and has neglected measures, particularly farmers rights, of increasing importance to food security.
IN SEARCH OF BIOSECURITY: CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT ON ACCESS TO GENETIC RESOURCES, BENEFIT-SHARING, AND BIOSAFETY IN CENTRAL ASIA AND MONGOLIA. By United Nations University and the Institute of Advanced Studies, 2003. This report is based on the proceedings and findings of a workshop". In Search of Biosecurity: Capacity Development on Access to Genetic , Benefit-Sharing, and Biosafety in Central Asia and Mongolia", held by UNU/IAS, June 2002. It contains a regional and national overview of the state of biodiversity in Central Asia and Mongolia and its importance to sustainable development and the principal pressures on genetic and biological resources in the region, namely fragile arid and semi-arid ecosystems, limited resources and economic development, and the international context and multilateral instruments relevant to these issues.
WWF’S PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE EU FOLLOWING THE FAILURE OF THE FIFTH WTO MINISTERIAL. By WWF and the Centre for International Environmental Law, October 2003. This discussion paper flags impacts of potential WTO GATS negotiations and subsequent negotiated rules on water resources and the environment, and offers recommendations on how problematic areas can possibly be avoided and mitigated. The paper can also be obtained in hard copy by sending an e-mail to: sgranger@wwfint.org.
REGIONALISM AND THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM. By the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003. This study examines how regional trade agreements are undermining and/or contributing to global trade agreements governed by the World Trade Organisation. The chapter on intellectual property argues that the TRIPS-plus deals supported by Washington, Brussels and other economic powers are not only multiplying, but they are seen to be setting new international IPR standards.
ENVIRONMETAL AND SOCIAL STANDARDS IN EXPORT CREDIT. By Ecologic. This study focuses on the incorporation of environmental and social standards into export credit agencies’ lending practices. Commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), it surveys the environmental guidelines of eight OECD member states’ export credit agencies. Special emphasis was given to the support of large dams; in this context, the study evaluates to what extent the recommendations made by the World Commission on Dams were reflected in the environmental and social guidelines. The study concludes with a series of suggestions as to how the WCD recommendations can be better integrated into the lending practices of ECAs. .
"Institutional interaction to address greenhouse gas emissions from international transport: ICAO, IMO and the Kyoto Protocol, " in CLIMATE POLICY 3 (3, 2003): 191-205. By Sebastian Obethur. This paper discusses how in response to Article 2.2 of the Kyoto Protocol, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have begun to consider greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international aviation and shipping. However, neither ICAO nor IMO have taken any effective action on the issue yet and progress can be characterised as slow. This paper lays out three options for furthering progress within ICAO and IMO.
"Climate negotiations beyond Kyoto: developing countries concerns and interests," in CLIMATE POLICY 3 (3, 2003): 221-231. By Adil Najam, Saleemul Huq and Youba Sokona. The principal argument of this paper is the need for a to return to the basic principles outlined in the Framework Convention on Climate Change in the search for a north-south bargain on climate change. Such a bargain might be achievable if can the policy architecture of the climate regime is realigned to its original stated goals of sustainable development.
"Molecular marker assisted selection as a potential tool for genetic improvement of crops, forest trees, livestock and fish in developing countries," by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2003. This publication deals with the potential benefits of using markers linked to genes of interest in breeding programmes, it describes the availability of markers throughout genetic material and the breakthrough in identifying markers.
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CAMBODIAN RESEARCH CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT. This Centre for Development is an independent, non-political, non partisan and not for profit research organization. The activities of CRCD focus on research in the areas of development, with the goal of improving the activities of national and international organisations involved in the development of the Kingdom of Cambodia. CRCD aims to provide to a broad public, knowledge for sustainable development, through academically rigorous research.