CIAO DATE: 06/02

Protecting the Environment While Opening Markets in the Americas

Negotiations to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) are scheduled to conclude in 2005. The Market Access Negotiations are a major element of this effort, and they would remove all tariff and nontariff barriers to trade among the 34 participating countries on all nonagricultural products, including forest and mining products, fish, and manufactured goods. This study considers the economic and environmental implications of the Market Access Negotiations, explaining how this agreement would promote economic growth in the Americas. The paper also raises environmental concerns and recommends that during the trade negotiations, parallel environmental negotiations be launched to inform trade negotiators of potential problems that can be addressed in the trade agreement, on the basis of environmental impact assessments, in order to promote better environmental stewardship in the Americas.

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