Greening the Americas: NAFTA's Lessons for Hemispheric Trade - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262541386 ISBN 13: 9780262541381

Publisher: MIT Press, 2002

Synopsis

Attention to environmental issues is vital if the full potential economic benefits of international trade are to be realized. Greening the Americas offers a number of analytically rigorous proposals to ensure that economic integration in the Western Hemisphere proceeds in an environmentally sustainable and politically sensible manner.

The chapters review the history of the environmental negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), explore the treaty's economic and environmental impacts, and draw lessons that can be applied to the ongoing Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations. Greening the Americas analyzes in detail NAFTA's environmental elements, highlighting those provisions that should be included in future agreements and those that should be amended or dropped. The book includes contributions from a diverse set of participants in the debate about how to link environmental policy and trade agreements. The perspectives range from the broadly optimistic about environmental effects of trade and trade liberalization to a more pessimistic view of the economic and social effects of open markets and economic integration. What unites all of the contributions is a commitment to engage constructively in the policy dialogue over how best to integrate trade and environmental policy making in the Americas.

About this title

About the Author

Carolyn L. Deere is Assistant Director of the Global Inclusion Theme of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Review

Greening the Americas digs in to the difficult issue of how to address environmental issues in the context of trade liberalization. The book's authors seek to understand the lessons from the NAFTA and to apply them to hemisphere-wide efforts to promote freer trade.

―Jamie Serra Puche, former Mexican Trade Minister and Chief NAFTA negotiator

In a landscape of policy debate marked by polarized views, bitter protests, and a paucity of empirical data and analysis, this volume demystifies the linkages between trade and environment. Through clear analysis of the real life experience of North America with NAFTA, the book offers important practical lessons for hemispheric trade and environment issues that will help policy makers go beyond the rhetoric and into concrete action for a prosperous and environmentally secure Free Trade Area of the Americas.

―Janine Ferretti, Executive Director, North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation

A frank and thoughtful discussion that identifies practical ways to move the trade and environment issue forward. A must-read for policymakers, scholars and activists searching for ways to integrate trade and environment policy making in the Americas.

―Christiana Figueres, Executive Director, Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas

With perspectives from government officials, trade policy makers, academics, and NGOs, Greening the Americas brings to the trade and environment debate the lessons of the negotiations, agreements, and environmental consequences of NAFTA. The analysis and the options laid out for the current Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations should be read and taken into account by all interested parties.

―Alejandro Jara, Ambassador of Chile to the WTO, Former Chairperson, WTO Committee on Trade & Environment, and Chairperson, negotiating group for Trade in Services

Deere and Esty and their contributors analyze the tensions that animate the trade and environment debate and explain why competing claims and objections arise. Greening the Americas charts a realistic course for designing new trade agreements that draw upon the strengths and avoid the mistakes of NAFTA. For those of us who see the trade and environment nexus as central to future progress this is essential reading.

―William K. Reilly, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1989-93

This book has it all: a thorough assessment of the NAFTA trade and environment experience, a broad range of perspectives from key experts and practitioners, and a comprehensive menu of well-thought-out specific proposals to break the political deadlock. A landmark study, this collection will serve as a reference point for everyone in the field.

―Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Director, Trade Unit, OAS, Former Trade Minister, Costa Rica

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0262541386
• ISBN 13: 9780262541381
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 452
• Editor: Deere Carolyn L., Esty Daniel C.