United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Trade and Environment Review
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Trade and Environment Review 2016
More LessThe Trade and Environment Review 2016 addresses the matter of harmful incentives, primarily in terms of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and fisheries subsidies, as an important part of the toolkit to restore fish populations, foster sustainable fisheries and deliver substantial economic and social gains. The Review proposes developing an overarching traceability system of traded fish from vessel to final consumer, as key to arresting and eliminating IUU fishing, but notes the requirement for major upgrading of institutional and technical implementation capacities, which may be difficult for some countries with fewer financial resources. On subsidies, there should be full transparency and disclosure of all fisheries subsidies, which should be classified in order to identify and distinguish those that are harmful or not. Efforts to discipline capacity-enhancing subsidies should be exerted at the national, regional and global levels of governance and, given previous intransience on this issue, a group of countries in partnership with organizations such as the WTO, UNCTAD and the FAO could stimulate collective actions with bottom-up voluntary commitments to subsidy reform.
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Trade and Environment Review 2013
More LessThe 2013 report warns that continuing rural poverty, persistent hunger around the world, growing populations, and mounting environmental concerns must be treated as a collective crisis. Urgent and far-reaching action is needed before climate change begins to cause major disruptions to agriculture, especially in developing countries. The report cites a number of trends that collectively suggest a mounting crisis, including increasing food prices, increased fertilizer use, and a decline in the agriculture growth rate. But most important of all are the persistent problems with hunger, malnutrition, and access to food. Almost 1 billion people currently suffer from hunger, and another 1 billion are malnourished, even though current global agricultural production already provides sufficient calories to feed a population of 12 to 14 billion.
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Trade and Environment Review 2009/2010
More LessWhile several rapidly industrializing developing countries have not seen a major slump in their growth by the recent economic and financial crises, UNCTAD’s Trade and Environment Review 2009/2010 (TER 09/10) focuses on the 140 plus low-income and least developed countries, which have not caused the economic, financial, climate and food crises, but have to bear the full brunt of these crises. The stress of the global financial crisis — as well as concerns about climate change and food prices — should be used by developing countries to shift towards clean growth. Because so little has been done in such nations huge gains can be realized in improving energy efficiency, enhancing sustainable agricultural methods, and stimulating the use of rural, off-grid renewable energy. But to make this progress happen, governments must eliminate market barriers and policies that prevent the flow of capital into these promising sectors.
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Trade and Environment Review 2006
More LessThis edition of the Review focuses on environmental and related health requirements and their impact on developing countries’ market access. It examines both the opportunities and challenges presented by these requirements. It also includes both general and sectoral analyses of the issue, and looks at two sectors where environmental requirements are critical to market access: electrical and electronic equipment and organic agricultural products. The Review also provides an overview of recent UNCTAD technical cooperation and capacity building activities in the area of trade and environment.
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Trade and Environment Review 2003
More LessThe Trade and Development Review focuses on themes that are of particular interest to developing countries. In doing so it provides a forum for dialogue aimed at assisting developing countries in shaping their specific interest in the international trade and environment debate. The issues discussed in this publication are; trade obligations in multilateral environmental agreements, environmental goods and services, World Trade Organization and technical capacity building.
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