The WTO's official role in the relationship between trade and environmental issues is very limited. One needs to distinguish non-binding discussions from binding negotiations. The WTO is presently looking at the compatibility between precise and compulsory trade measures (so-called Specific Trade Obligations or STOs) which are contained in some of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements, and its own trade agreements. Environmental trade restrictions have been discussed since 1995 at the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), and the Doha Declaration in Paragraph 31(i) has opened for the first time the door for more formal negotiations on this issue. This section will also look at the role of the UN, especially the UN Environment Programme UNEP and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD, and of specialized international environmental NGOs, in the promotion of international environmental governance. UNEP and the WTO in fact have published jointly, in June 2009, a substantial report "Trade and Climate Change"  (167 p.) authored by Ludivine Tamiotti, Robert Teh and Vesile Kulaçoglu from the WTO, and by Anne Olhoff, Benjamin Simmons and Hussein Abaza from UNEP.

The WTO Web site offers (also in French) all the WTO legal texts and an enormous wealth of other official documents as well as background and analytical information supplied by the secretariat. It is very well structured but may require some familiarizing.  Depending on your browser, it is necessary sometimes to leave the EcoLomics International links and browse directly on the WTO site -- the following selection of pointers is simply intended to facilitate the search of this very large site.
 

Links 

See also links on Global EcoLomic Governance

Blogs and other Information by law professors

http://worldtradelaw.typepad.com/ielpblog/

http://www.law.duke.edu/fac/pauwelyn/
 

Bridges:

see International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Washington DC and Geneva

http://www.ciel.org/

Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), Montréal

http://www.cisdl.org

Chatham House / Royal Institute of International Affairs,

Sustainable Development Programme / Environment, London

http://www.riia.org/index.php?id=176

Concerted Action on Trade and Environment (CAT&E),

primarily Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris

http://www.cat-e.org/

Ecologic - Institute for International and European Environmental Policy,

Berlin and Brussels

http://www.ecologic.de/

EcoLomics International, Geneva

http://www.ecolomics-international.org

Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB):

see International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), London

http://www.field.org.uk/about_overview.php
 

Global Environmental Governance Project

The College of William and Mary, and Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy

http://environmentalgovernance.org/

Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI), Paris

http://www.iddri.org/iddri/

Institute for Environmental Studies, Amsterdam (IVM)

http://www.ivm.falw.vu.nl/home/index.cfm

Intellectual Property Watch
http://www.ip-watch.org/

International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva

http://www.ictsd.org/

Free electronic suscriptions:

Bridges Weekly
Bridges Trade BioRes

Bridges Monthly: on the Web and in Print
Authoritative information on trade and sustainable development

L'édition française avec Enda-Tiers monde: Passerelles

http://www.ictsd.org/africodev/edition/passerelle/passarc.htm

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

http://www.ielrc.org/

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London

http://www.iied.org/

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD),

Winnipeg, Ottawa, New York and Geneva

http://www.iisd.org/
Free electronic subscriptions:

http://www.iisd.ca/

Environmental Negotiations Bulletin (ENB)

In depth daily coverage of the major environmental

multilateral negotiations: Linkages

http://www.iisd.ca/enbvol/enb-electronic.htm

To obtain free subscriptions to sectoral negotiations:

http://www.iisd.ca/email/subscribe.htm

For the most up to date list of negotiations with links to related reports see

IISD/ENB Reporting Services NEWS

http://www.iisd.ca/news/news.html

IISD Publications Centre  

Environment and Trade: A Handbook - Second Edition

UNEP, IISD, 2005. Book, 142 pages

International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Glans/Geneva

http://www.iucn.org/

OECD

Environment and Trade Section

http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,2686,en_2649_34183_1_1_1_1_37431,00.html

Ruddyconsult, St. Gallen, Switzerland

http://www.citeulike.org/user/ruddyconsult
 

South Centre, Geneva

Free electronic subscription

http://www.southcentre.org/

Trade Environment Database (TED)

[approximately 600 case studies]

http://www1.american.edu/TED/searchhome.htm

Trade-Environment.org (part of ICTSD), Geneva

http://www.trade-environment.org/

UNCTAD

Trade and Environment Review

http://www.unctad.org/templates/webflyer.asp?docid=4502&intItemID=2068&lang=1&mode=toc

http://www.unctad.org/Templates/WebFlyer.asp?intItemID=3725&lang=1

UNEP-UNCTAD Capacity-Building Task Force

http://www.unep-unctad.org/cbtf/

UNEP Economics and Trade Branch (ETB)

http://www.unep.ch/etu/etp/index.htm
 

Unisféra, Centre International Centre, Montréal

http://www.unisfera.org/?ln=1&id_article=77

Union for Ethical Biotrade, Geneva

http://www.uebt.ch/

WTO

http://www.wto.org

WWF - The Conservation Organization

http://www.panda.org/