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| UNEP Chief upbeat on WTO trade talks
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Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) -
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director
of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), says the
just-concluded World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial
talks in Doha, Qatar, offer real hope for delivering a
fairer and more environmentally friendly trade.
"Negotiations on trade and the environment were, until
recently, a taboo subject in the WTO.
"But the Ministerial Declaration issued in Qatar has shown
that countries are now willing to address these complex
links between the need to liberalise trade and the need to
protect the world's forests, fisheries, wetlands, wildlife
and other precious natural resources," Toepfer said in a
release.
He said although the world still had a long way to go, the
agreements reached in Doha had marked a new beginning.
The UNEP chief said he is particularly pleased that trade
Ministers have acknowledged the role his organisation can
play in charting a more environmentally friendly and
sustainable course in world trade.
The Declaration agreed late Wednesday welcomed WTO's
continued co-operation with UNEP and other inter-governmental
organisations.
"We encourage efforts to promote co-operation between the WTO
and relevant international environmental and developmental
organisations, especially in the lead-up to the World Summit
on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg, South
Africa, in September 2002," it added.
Toepfer said UNEP stands ready to assist trade Ministers on
these issues ahead of the Johannesburg Summit.
He commended the Ministers for recognising the importance
of the Summit on which rests the hopes of billions of people,
especially in the developing world and particularly in
Africa.
"We need to use trade to lift large numbers of people out of
poverty while maintaining and promoting a healthy, clean and
environmentally sound planet.
"It is important to ensure that increases in incomes, as a
result of trade liberalisation, do not occur at the expense
of the environment. But it is equally important to have
safeguards so that countries do not use the environment as
an excuse for banning imports, so-called 'green
protectionism'," he added.
Toepfer also stressed the need to help countries develop
the ability to assess the environmental impacts of trade
and trade policies.
The Doha Declaration also commits countries to negotiate
on the relationship between WTO rules and trade obligations
contained in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs),
such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES).
UNEP, together with the UN Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), has created the Capacity Building Task Force on Trade,
Environment and Development (CBTF), in response to the demands
by developing countries for specific capacity building
activities.
The Declaration also recognises the importance of helping
the Least Developed Countries achieve access to world markets
for a fare share of world trade.
"This has important environmental implications too. A country
needs a level of prosperity to be able to tackle environmental
threats and issues.
"Countries overwhelmed by poverty and debt often cannot invest
in environmentally friendly activities or technologies,"
Toepfer said.
He maintained that if the new round of trade talks could
raise the standards of living for these severely disadvantaged
nations, real progress could be achieved on delivering clean
air, clean water and clean land for their citizens.
Environment, poverty reduction and the push towards
sustainable development were among the key issues at the
meeting.
For the first time, Trade Ministers from over 140 countries,
who wound up their meeting Wednesday, noted that globalisation
of trade and the reduction of trade barriers must take into
account environmental issues and the development needs of
some of the world's poorer countries.
The Ministers also took some first, critical, steps towards
reducing or phasing out so-called "perverse subsidies" in
areas such as fisheries.
Subsidies amounting to 15 billion US dollars a year distort
trade, contribute to the decline and in some cases, the
collapse of fish stocks, and cause broader impacts on the
marine environment, the UNEP release noted.
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| Nairobi - 15/11/2001 |
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