Charges that World Trade Organization Threatens Forests

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of forests.org

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http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

9/16/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

Negotiations on existing World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and a

new "global, free logging agreement" proposed by the United States

are on the agenda for the WTO meeting in Seattle at the end of

November. The talks aim to reduce tariffs in wood and paper

products--but may well end up striking down forest environmental and

conservation legislation around the World--including moves to

certification of timber harvesting practices and limitations on log

export from public lands. Free trade at the expense of free

ecological services provided by forests is anything but free.

g.b.

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Title: Environment-Trade: WTO Rules Threaten Forests

Source: Inter-Press Service

Date: September 13, 1999

WASHINGTON, (Sep. 13) IPS - The fate of the world's forests will hang

in the balance at top-level international talks during the upcoming

meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to U.S.

environmental groups.

"The WTO threatens to fuel the destruction of the world's remaining

forests," notes "Our Forests At Risk," a document released today by

more than 100 environmental groups based mostly in the Pacific

Northwest region of the United States.

Negotiations on existing WTO rules and a new "global, free logging

agreement" proposed by the United States are on the agenda for WTO

negotiators who will meet in Seattle at the end of November.

The talks aim to liberalize trade or reduce tariffs in wood and paper

products that could be devastating to countries' attempts to protect

their forests and to limit demand, said a report, co- authored by

Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund and the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance.

The 32-page report said an accelerated tariff phase-out for wood

products will only fuel consumption and demand that will increase

logging operations, already endangering forests worldwide.

The environmental groups outline the various protection measures for

forests that could be dismantled by the trade body. These include the

eco-labeling of wood and forest products and safeguards to prevent

the importation of invasive pests.

Over the last two decades, rapid deforestation has taken an

unprecedented toll, according to the report. A recent study by the

World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development showed that

about 15 million hectares of forests -- mostly in tropical regions --

are being lost annually.

"It is also clear that the structural integrity of much of the forest

cover that remains has deteriorated," the World Commission notes in

the study.

Contentious debate over trade and environmental protection can be

expected when delegates gather for the WTO's third ministerial round

of talks, to be held in Seattle from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.

Environmentalists point to numerous conservation measures that have

been challenged at previous meetings and found to be "unfair trade

barriers."

Such was the fate of a U.S. law designed to protect sea turtles,

which prohibited imports of shrimp from countries that do not require

their fishing fleets to use devices that exclude the endangered

turtles from their nets.

The WTO found this to be an "unfair trade barrier."

New trade negotiations could lead to similar dismantling of forest

protections, according to the report.

Restrictions or bans on imports of wood products designed to prevent

the spread of pest species, such as the Asian long-horned beetle from

other countries, would collide with restrictive WTO rules that

require that regulations use the least trade restrictive means of

achieving the regulatory goal.

"Invasive species are the second leading threat to forest

biodiversity," said the report. "The most effective way to prevent

bio-invasions of forests is to prevent the entry and spread of

invasive species."

The Asian long-horned beetle, for example, which entered the United

States in wood packaging material from Northeast Asia, first attacked

hardwood species in New York City and Chicago.

Difficult to eradicate, because it has no known natural enemies in

this country and is resistant to pesticides, the insect now has been

found in warehouses in more than two dozen cities.

Export bans on unprocessed or raw logs cut on public lands could also

be challenged under WTO rules, warns the report.

"Such bans reduce the demand for logging and enable domestic mills to

reap the benefits of logging that is done," said the report. But "WTO

rules prohibit such export bans."

Japan already has threatened to invoke these rules to challenge the

export bans for public lands as instituted by the states in the

western United States.

Government regulations that prohibit or limit the purchase of

products from primary or unsustainably-managed forests, or that

require the state to buy a certain percentage of recycled products,

could also be challenged under WTO rules that prohibit different

treatment of products based on the way the product is produced.

"Such rules are vulnerable to challenge on the ground that they

discriminate against countries that log native forests," said the

report.

Labels and certification processes for wood and paper products from

forests that are sustainably harvested could also be challenged by

the WTO. The trade body creates obstacles for such eco-labeling

because it is based on how the product is produced, say

environmentalists.

U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky has stated that

pressing for the elimination of tariffs on forest products is one of

the country's primary targets going into trade negotiations in

November.

But pushing for tariff elimination could magnify global consumption

trends of wood and paper products. Already, the United Nations Food

and Agriculture Organization's "State of the World's Forests 1999"

report forecasts a 25 percent increase in worldwide industrial wood

production and consumption by the year 2010.

Without including forest conservation provision into the free-trade

rules, tariff reduction will lead to the accelerated destruction of

forests worldwide, said the report.

According to the American Forest and Paper Association -- a powerful

industry group -- a recent study by the Finnish consulting firm

Jaakko Poyry estimates a three to four percent increase in the

consumption of forest products as a result of tariff-free trade.

"Our trade negotiators are pushing a plan that would undermine our

forest protections, despite broad public opposition," said Patti

Goldman, managing attorney for EarthJustice Legal Defense Fund and

principal author of the report.

She said that current trade rules need to be assessed and repaired if

needed, before pushing forward with new proposals. "We are urging our

government to look before we leap into loosening regulations on

trade," Goldman said.

Dave Batker, an economist who directs the Seattle-based Asia- Pacific

Environmental Exchange stresses that his organization is not opposed

to trade.

"However, when the single-minded pursuit of free-trade is elevated to

supercede our own environmental standards, our government must be

held accountable," he added.

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