This briefing paper addresses the need to secure a safe political and legal space for the environment and outlines a number of alternative approaches, which would enable governments to move the current negotiations on the relationship between...

The 6th WTO Ministerial Conference is set to take place in Hong Kong, China from the 13th to 18th of December 2005. After the collapse of the last Ministerial meeting in Cancun in 2003, governments aim to ensure at Hong Kong, that the “Doha...

The WTO – since it came into being in 1995 – has made the promotion of free trade for the gain of private interests the ultimate goal, over and above all other social, public and environmental objectives. The system is fatally flawed: a...

Global trade refers to the act of buying and selling goods and services between countries. Because “globalisation’ has made the world a much smaller place, these goods and services can travel further and faster so that – for instance – products...

Improved market access at the cost of the environment: the environmental risks of the NAMA negotiations. The liberalization of markets driven by the World Trade Organization (WTO) makes it difficult at both the national and international levels...