WTO AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

A primary function of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is to settle disputes among nations when their individual trade laws come in conflict. Since its creation out of the old General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATI) in 1995, WTO's dispute resolution panels have handled hundreds of cases. But for some of those cases, specifically those involving environmental and public health issues, a backlash is building among environmental activist groups, which believe WTO is making international trade a clear winner at the expense of the global environment. And no decision has angered these groups more than WTO's ruling in October that a U.S. law intended to protect endangered species of sea turtles from being killed in shrimp nets is really a trade barrier and need not be enforced. Environmental groups see WTO promoting an economic order that is increasing pollution and harming human health. They believe WTO, in pursuit of improved trade, may bring down both ...