Despite a failure to achieve closure on the Doha Round of WTO negotiations,
regional and bilateral trade agreements involving a variety of countries
have continued to be negotiated, signed and implemented. Most of the
recent trade agreements have contained some environmental provisions,
ranging from a pledge to protect the environment to very extensive environmental
requirements. These results appear to reflect a recognition that trade
has environmental consequences and that trade agreements can be constructed
to help mitigate such effects.
Keywords: environment, environmental provisions, free trade, trade
agreements
