The Nafta Report On Environmental Issues

Air and water pollution blighted northern Mexican cities long before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a glimmer on the political horizon. Not surprisingly, when NAFTA became a political reality, environmentalists argued that commercial competition would weaken environmental standards in Canada and the United States and industrial growth in Mexico would further damage its weak environmental infrastructure. NAFTA's huge success in expanding free trade has concentrated population and environmental abuse at the US-Mexico border where it is most visible to Americans. Many environmental groups blame NAFTA and, drawing on its experience, now oppose new trade initiatives.Does the NAFTA record on the environment since 1994 justify its criticism? In this seven-year analysis, the authors review NAFTA's environmental provisions, including a side accord--the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), the situation at the US-Mexican border, and the trends in North American environmental policy. They emphasize that the environmental problems of North America were not the result of NAFTA and the NAAEC was not devised to address all of them. The authors recommend ways to better NAFTA's environmental dimension in all three countries, and improve living conditions where economic growth is greatest--at the US-Mexican border. It makes more sense to tackle the shortcomings than to lament NAFTA and the economic growth it promotes.

NAFTA remains a centerpiece of US trade-policy debate, but its provisions have sacrificed environmental concerns for the sake of trade liberalization. This timely volume analyzes the national policies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The authors explain how the competing priorities of province, state, or government agendas can slow coordination measures to curtail emissions throughout North America. But, North American cooperation could serve as a model for how developed and developing countries can mutually benefit from an international climate change agreement. Emission reduction is now inextricably linked with trade and finance measures in this post-Kyoto era. The authors argue that the three NAFTA partners can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while mitigating concerns about trade competitiveness. NAFTA and Climate Change provides a critical assessment of how NAFTA initiatives will contribute to the achievement of important climate-change goals at both regional and global levels. This thorough investigation advances potential solutions, and ideas to develop practical channels for transferring technical and financial assistance from developed to developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and further economic development.

This volume takes a comprehensive look at the treatment of environmental activities and compiles a number of documents that illuminate the interaction of trade and environment within the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Will NAFTA harm the earth? NAFTA's environmental impact, explored in detailed.

"Many of the papers included in this volume were first presented and discussed in the Spring of 2000 at a conference on lessons from the NAFTA for the FTAA"--Pref.