ISSN : 1997-1052 (Print)
2227-202X (Online)
 
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Reconciliation of WTO and MEAs: Bridging the Gap between Trade Liberalization and Environmental Protection
Md. Mehedi Hasan
Abstract

International trade liberalization and environmental protection are inseparably linked and mutually supportive of the objective of economic progress and sustainable development. Since the international policies regarding trade and environment have emerged in isolation, it is difficult to ascertain their actual relationship. Many environmentalists tend to think that trade liberalization is antithetical to environmental preservation, while the trade advocates view environmental safeguard as trade restrictive. This has lead to a highly polarized debate on the trade-environment nexus, in which one side argues that trade liberalization results in pollutions, resource depletion and unsustainable environmental practices, while other encounters by maintaining that trade-induced economic growth allows the creation of the resources and means necessary for environmental management. Aside from the broad debate as to whether economic growth and trade negatively affect the environment, there are linkages between existing rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and rules established in various Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). This article examines the nexus of the two objectives of environmental protection and trade liberalization and revolves around the inter-relationship between multilateral environmental agreements and the multilateral trading system and is going to recommend to initiate an integrationist approach through reconciliation between the WTO and Multilateral Environmental Agreements rather than a separatist approach.

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