WTO actions called threat to world's forests

The so-called Global Free Logging Agreement threatens to loosen regulations designed to protect forests around the world.

September 28, 1999
Web posted at: 11:17 a.m. EDT (1517 GMT)

A report released recently by several environmental groups warns that current global trade rules and others up for discussion by the World Trade Organization will further threaten the world's forests.

The WTO is scheduled to begin their next round of talks in Seattle in late November.

"Our Forests at Risk: The World Trade Organization's Threat to Forest Protection" explains in detail how current trade agreements will effectively strip away hard-fought protections for forests in the United States and elsewhere.

The report also outlines the negative aspects of the so-called Global Free Logging Agreement, which is designed to eliminate tariffs on timber products.

In addition, the report discusses concerns over new rules that are expected to be up for discussion at the next round of talks.

The authors of the report strongly recommend that current trade rules as well as new measures before the organization be examined to guarantee that they offer adequate protections for forests before the negotiators proceed.

"Our trade negotiators are pushing a plan that would undermine the forest protections that U.S. citizens fought so hard to obtain," said Patti Goldman, managing attorney for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund and a principal author of the report.

A statement released with the report and signed by more than 100 conservation groups around the world said, "Trading away the forest protections that we have worked so hard to achieve is not an option. The WTO should not adopt new agreements liberalizing trade in forest products at the Seattle Ministerial meeting or in a new round. Instead, there must be a comprehensive review of the impact of all WTO agreements that impact forest ecosystems and biodiversity, and existing agreements must be reformed to protect forests and our environment before any new agreements are considered."

Current rules that alarm forest advocates

Current WTO rules that trouble the authors of the report include:

• WTO rules for fostering free trade are not stringent enough with regard to invasive species and will inevitably allow bio-invasions which will threaten native forests. Invasive species are the second leading threat to forest bio-diversity.
• The United States and states in the western United States have banned the export of unprocessed, or raw, logs from public lands. WTO rules prohibit such export bans.
• Certain WTO rules prohibit different treatment of a product based on the way it is produced. This collides with governments that practice green procurement. Such governments, for example, purchase recycled paper to lower the demand for materials from native and unsustainably managed forests. Such practices could be challenged under WTO rules on the grounds that they discriminate against countries that log native forests.
• Eco-labeling enables consumers to identify and purchase items made from forest products produced in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner. WTO rules create obstacles for eco-labeling because it is based on how the product is produced, not simply on the product's characteristics.

The Global Free Logging Agreement, a name coined by environmentalists and forest activists, is officially referred to as Accelerated Tariff Liberalization. Currently, tariffs are placed on forest products traded between countries in the WTO.

Lead by the U.S. negotiators, trade representatives at the Seattle meeting are scheduled to discuss and possibly ratify the Accelerated Tariff Liberalization provision that would speed up the elimination of these tariffs in the name of free trade.

Forest advocates are concerned that a WTO removal of bans on raw log exports will threaten the remaining virgin forests in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The authors of the report are concerned that negotiators are rushing into this agreement and not adequately taking into account the consequences it will have on forests and the environment as a whole. At a press conference held to release the report, the groups called on the Clinton administration to withdraw the Global Free Logging Agreement from the meeting's agenda.

"We are urging our government to look before we leap into loosening regulations designed to protect our environment and U.S. jobs. Our government should insist on a full review and modification of the WTO rules to ensure protection of our forests before pushing forward with new proposals," said Goldman of Earthjustice.

Topics up for future discussion

At the Seattle meeting of the WTO, negotiators will also be outlining topics for discussion for the next round of talks. The authors and sponsors of the "Our Forests at Risk" are concerned that the future agenda will include efforts, beyond tariff elimination, that will dismantle rules designed to protect forests.

"What may look like a non-tariff trade barrier to the WTO is often a forest protection," states the report. "The WTO rules define virtually all obstacles to trade as unfair trade barriers even if they are designed to protect the environment. While the WTO has exceptions for conserving natural resources, those exceptions have been construed so narrowly that most forest protections are not covered."

Some ill-fated non-tariff "barriers" that may include:

• Border safeguards to prevent the entry and spread of invasive species
• Green procurement
• Eco-labeling
• Raw log export bans
• Environmental laws that protect forests and restrict foreign investors on how they run their investments.

Proof of this, said Martin Wagner of Earthjustice, can be found by looking at who the United States Trade Representative Office has selected to staff the industry sector advisory committees for forests and forest products. These committees, as the name suggests, advise the trade officials who are helping make policy at the WTO meetings.

These two forest-related committees are made up of industry representatives only, said Wagner, which is clearly a conflict of interest. Earthjustice has appealed several times to U.S. Trade Representative Office to balance out these groups with scientists and environmentalists, but to no avail, he said. Earthjustice has since filed suit.

The WTO was created at the latest round of international talks of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Uruguay between 1986 and 1994. The last ministerial meeting was held in May 1998 in Geneva, and the Seattle ministerial meeting, Nov. 30-Dec. 3, will be the first WTO negotiations in the United States. In 2000, new talks are due to start on agriculture and services and possibly a range of other issues. There are 134 member countries to the WTO.

"Our Forests at Risk: The World Trade Organization's Threat to Forest Protection" was co-authored by Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund and Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, in collaboration with American Lands Alliance, Asia Pacific Environmental Exchange, International Forum on Globalization, Pacific Crest Biodiversity Project and Pacific Environment and Resource Center.

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