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Description

Para 31 (iii) of the WTO Doha Ministerial Declaration calls for the "..reduction or, as appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services (EGS)." While the special sessions of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and the Negotiating Group on Market Access (NAMA) mandated to discuss environmental goods have seen some constructive discussion and submissions, WTO Members still seem to be uncertain about how to proceed, particularly due to the fact there is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes environmental goods. For the purpose of the negotiations, WTO Members have referred to the OECD and Eurostat (Statistical Office of the European Communities) definition of the environmental industry as "activities which produce goods and services to measure, prevent, limit, minimize or correct environmental damage to water, air and soil, as well as problems related to waste, noise and ecosystems." Submissions on both procedural modalities and substantive aspects have taken place in parallel mode. Environmental services being negotiated within the special sessions of the Council for Trade in Services have witnessed a number of requests primarily from developed countries but few offers from developing countries so far. Here too the political emphasis contained in Para 31 (iii) seems to have done little to speed up the process.

The lack of momentum and uncertainty that continue to prevail in EGS negotiations in the WTO point to crucial information gaps in this area. There is a need to concretely address relevant issue-linkages and dimensions in EGS. Moreover, weak information flows and coordination between both developing country trade negotiators in Geneva and regional stakeholders imply that trade negotiations and trade policy-making on EGS may be divorced from regional sustainable development needs and priorities. There is an urgency in addressing these problems given the important role that EGS can play in acting as a vital systemic bridge linking the trade regime embodied in the WTO and the larger sustainable development regimes embodied in the WSSD Plan of Implementation, the Millennium Development Goals as well as various multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).

While the benefits of lowering the costs of access to environmental goods and services is not in dispute, many stakeholders are not clear whether binding trade-liberalisation commitments under the auspices of the WTO are the best way to bring this about. Moreover, there are different perspectives and opinions on what goods and services could be classified as 'environmental' owing in part, as mentioned before, to the lack of a universally accepted definition for EGS. Given the reality of the negotiating mandate on EGS, there is recognition that the types of goods and services included in the scope of negotiations as well as the different modalities and approaches used could result in different sustainable development outcomes, particularly in its economic and social pillars.

Usually, geographically contiguous regions have a number of shared concerns with regard to sustainable development. There are also various regional trends such as shared ecosystems, regional trade agreements and integration arrangements that adds value to looking at certain trade and sustainable development issues from a regional perspective. Among developing countries, Asia is the most important region for EGS trade and investment. A regional perspective that builds on the analytical work, thinking and real-life experience of the key stakeholders such as local experts, capital-based officials, civil society, the private sector could help not only in domestic policy formulation that is responsive to regional sustainable development needs and priorities but also enable Geneva-based delegates from the region to coordinate their negotiating strategies on EGS in order to ensure that WTO rules enable this. The proposed two-day dialogue on environmental goods and services aims to facilitate dialogue amongst stakeholders from key developing countries in South, South-east and East Asia and thereby provide options to domestic policy makers and regional WTO negotiators to ensure such an outcome.