At the WTO's last four Ministerial Conferences in Seattle (1999), Doha (2001) Cancun (2003) and Hong Kong (2005) developing countries played a far more important role than ever before. They were arguably by and large not successful in incorporating their preoccupations into the Uruguay Round negotiations and the thrust of the resulting WTO Agreements. They are insisting now rightfully that the industrialized world must make a much better effort to narrow the North-South gap, a preoccupation which has become a fundamental component of multilateral negotiations - in trade, in the  environment, and in other areas.

One of the most important domains of North-South cooperation consists in the environmentally sound management (ESM) of hazardous chemicals and waste. These questions are negotiated at the global level primarily through the Basel, Rotterdam, and the Stockholm Conventions, as well as through UNEP Chemicals. On 6 February 2006 the latter has adopted, at the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), a policy framework for international action on chemical hazards. For an analysis of this very innovative and ambitious undertaking see the RECIEL November 2006 article by Franz Xaver Perrez: SAICM: Lost Opportunity or Foundation for a Brave New World?

As far as better institutionalized relationships between Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and the WTO are concerned, developing countries have by and large been distrustful toward NGOs which are trying to push for some movement into the frozen positions at the WTO's Committee on Trade and Development. The same applies to the opening of negotiations at UN-related environmental bodies to civil society, and also to some extent to dispute settlement through the admission and consideration of amicus curiae briefs from specialized NGOs at the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body. The negotiations of MEAs in a number of fields (e.g. in Biosafety and in Intellectual Property Rights on Plants, as well as in the hazardous chemicals and waste conventions), have shown again and again that this resistance of developing countries is generally not in their long term interest, they are often finding themselves here as demandeurs in the same policy corner as the NGOs. In any case environmental problems tend to hit poor countries dependent on agriculture much more than the industrialized countries, and the NGOs which push for better environmental safeguards tend to be the same ones which advocate more support for capacity building, for technical assistance, and for official development assistance.

Links  

Focus on the Global South

http://www.focusweb.org

Free electronic subscription

International Environmental Law Research Center, Geneva, Nairobi and New Delhi

http://www.ielrc.org/

South Centre, Geneva

Free electronic subscription

http://www.southcentre.org/

Third World Network

http://www.twnside.org.sg/