Description
Trade
policy has implications for nearly every aspect of international negotiations,
and no policymaker interested in sustainable development can afford
to ignore it. The relationship between trade and environmental conservation
is complicated and still evolving, and biodiversity practitioners at
all levels must understand how trade policy affects them - and how they
can affect it. This workshop will equip participants with the basic
tools they need to understand the links between international trade
and biological resources, to negotiate effectively on these issues,
and to become effective advocates for trade and investment policies
that support biodiversity conservation.
The
workshop gathered together practitioners and policymakers, relevant
civil society groups, and individuals with a background or interest
in biodiversity conservation. It trained the participants to understand,
negotiate and influence international trade policy and its implications
for biodiversity conservation. By building capacity to engage the conservation
community in trade-related discussions, the workshop sought to create
continuing learning networks and communities capable of developing and
implementing mutually supportive trade and biodiversity policies.
The
training workshop was part of the Markets, Business and Environment
element of "TheInstitute@IUCN - Bangkok", a capacity-building
project of the Smithsonian Institution and the United Nations Development
Programme. In the first part of the meeting experts in the trade and
biodiversity policy arena untangeled technical trade policy language
and applied it to 'on the ground' realities relevant to the conservation
community. Participants were also introduced to key policy issues at
the intersection of trade, biodiversity and sustainable development
through a case study teaching method in order to provide them with a
solid foundation for informed participation in debates. Participants
were asked to identify relevant case studies from their own experience
so as to better understand and relate abstract policy issues to their
own work. These case studies were analysed with the entire group in
an expert-facilitated discussion to exchange experiences and extract
relevant lessons learned. In the final session, the experts worked with
participants to identify ways in which they could actively apply what
they had learned in the workshop, thereby allowing them to integrate
their knowledge into their respective activities.
