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environment

Ramming the matter home: Peru-US FTA rushed, diluted and finagled
29-Jan-2009 COHA
Two weeks ago, as the Peruvian Congress buoyantly rushed to amend labor, health, and environmental requirements in order to implement the long pending bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US, former President George W. Bush and Peruvian President Alan García could not afford any further delays. As Barack Obama moved into the White House, it was clear that the Bush and García Administrations’ priority was to declare the FTA in effect regardless of what had been previously negotiated and amended in the halls of the Peruvian Congress.
Crisis may lead to more non-tariff barriers
15-Jan-2009 The Nation
Many of Thailand’s trading partners are expected to implement non-tariff barriers this year to shield their markets from a flood of imports as a looming global recession prompts governments to negotiate free-trade pacts.
Free Trade Opens Environmental Window
1-Nov-2008
Legislative decree 1090, which modifies Peru’s forest policy, is worrying U.S. trade authorities because it contravenes environmental clauses of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that is to enter force between the two countries in January 2009.
Trade pact could lead to waste dumps
6-Oct-2008 Bangkok Post
The Asean-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP) agreement, which goes before Thai parliament today, will make Thailand a waste-dumping site for Japan, critics warn.
Don’t use trade for resolving non-trade issues: Kamal Nath
29-Sep-2008 Economic Times
"Increasingly we hear about proposals in the EU for levy of carbon tax on imports into EU, ban on imports on allegations of labour law violations and use of child labour etc. Any effort to combine trade with other social issues would prove to be disastrous for bilateral trade" says India’s commerce minister about the EU-India FTA.
Reject JPEPA, leaders of 66 NGOs appeal
14-Aug-2008 PDI
In a letter to Philippine Senate President Manuel Villar, 66 NGO leaders from around the world joined calls from local NGOs urging the Senate not to approve what they describe as a “flawed treaty” that promotes trade of toxic wastes.
Chevron lobbies White House to pressure Ecuador to stop $12bin Amazon pollution lawsuit
10-Aug-2008 DN!
Chevron is being accused of promoting geopolitical blackmail in its efforts to stave off a lawsuit accusing it of contaminating the Ecuadorian rain forest. Nearly 30,000 Amazon residents are seeking $12 billion from Chevron for dumping billions of gallons of toxic oil waste. According to Newsweek, the oil giant is urging the Bush administration to yank special trade preferences for Ecuador if the country’s government doesn’t force the Amazon residents to drop the case.
Colombia deal side agreements under microscope
6-Aug-2008 Embassy Magazine
With the Canada-Colombia deal done, but the text still kept secret, some say that the provisions on labour and the environment at least establish a record of commitment, while others say that without enforceable complaint mechanisms the side agreements amount to little more than lip service.
Official: Mexico open to new NAFTA talks
2-Aug-2008 Chicago Tribune
The Mexican government dismisses talk of disbanding NAFTA as politics, the country’s economy minister said Friday, but it would back the idea of a new round of North American trade talks, with the aim of including issues such as the environment and labor.
A call for the Senate to reject the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA)
31-Jul-2008 Hopeful
The undersigned ask the Philippine Senate to fulfill its role as check and balance to the Executive branch of government, to do right by the Filipino people and reject this infirm, lopsided, unlawful and unconstitutional treaty.
US, China sign energy, environment accord
11-Jul-2008 CalTradeReport
The US and China have signed a framework for an agreement to define cooperation on energy and environmental issues and will soon launch negotiations to reach a comprehensive investment and financial services treaty.
RI warned of toxic waste from Japan
27-Jun-2008 Jakarta Post
Environmental groups have warned that Japan could "dispose waste" in Indonesia under an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) the countries signed last year.
Ranbaxy deal may help India’s entry into Japan
16-Jun-2008 Financial Express
The Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy Laboratories deal has come as a shot in the arm for India’s Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) negotiations with Japan. Indian pharma companies have been unable to break into Japan, the world’s second largest drug market, due to the country’s stringent sanitary and phytosanitary standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and environmental norms.
Canada concludes Colombia free trade talks
9-Jun-2008 Reuters
Canada said on Saturday it had wrapped up free trade negotiations with Colombia and reached agreement on related labor and environmental issues, but the deal could raise criticism from opposition lawmakers concerned about the Andean country’s human rights record.
Is water becoming ‘the new oil’?
30-May-2008 CSM
The prospect of losing control of water under free-trade or other agreements is something Canadians seem to worry about constantly.
International investment agreements: A survey of environmental, labour and anti-corruption issues
2-May-2008 OECD
This paper surveys the societal dimension of 296 international investment agreements (IIAs) signed by the 30 member countries and of by the 9 non-member countries that participate formally in OECD investment work.
EPA text released
4-Apr-2008
CARIFORUM states including The Bahamas are now free to perform their respective legal reviews of the Economic Partnership Agreement [EPA] between the grouping and the European Union now that a legal scrub of the document has been completed, the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery [CRNM] Director General Ambassador Richard Bernal confirmed yesterday.
FTAs ’ignoring environment’
2-Apr-2008 Bangkok Post
While the government moves to strengthen Thailand’s global position through free-trade agreements, more efforts are needed to consider the environmental impact of increased industrial activity.
US-Korea Understanding on Agricultural Biotechnology (2007)
18-Feb-2008 Korean Advanced Farmers Federation
Negotiated on the sidelines of the US-Korea FTA, in March 2007.
Corporate globalisation: Standing at the end of the road
13-Feb-2008 CounterPunch
Corporate globalization, savagely embodied by NAFTA, is not just a threat to Mexican farmers and rural villagers. The economic, health, and social damage created by industrial agriculture, corporate globalization, and the patenting and gene-splicing of transgenic plants and animals, are inexorably leading to universal "bioserfdom " for farmers, deteriorating health for consumers, a destabilized climate (energy intensive industrial agriculture and long-distance food transportation and processing account, directly or indirectly, for 40% of all climate-disrupting greenhouse gases), tropical deforestation, and a rapid depletion of oil supplies.