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| UNCTAD/ TED Palais des Nations, CH - 1211 Genève 10, Suisse trade.environment@unctad.org tél +41 (0)22 917 1330 Terms & conditions Privacy |
About TED
UNCTAD X Mandate on Trade and Environment
The tenth quadrennial session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD X), was held in Bangkok (Thailand) from 12 to 19 February 2000. The conference
had as its main objective the equitable sharing of the benefits of globalization
across the world. This conference resulted in UNCTAD's Plan of Action for the
next few years.
UNCTAD received a wide mandate in the area of Trade and Environment laid out
in the Plan of Action, detailed in Paragraphs 146 and 147
Paragraph 146.
UNCTAD’s work, in cooperation with other relevant organizations,
should focus on helping to ensure balance in the trade and environment debate
by highlighting issues of concern to developing countries and strengthening
the development dimension. This in turn would require special attention being
paid to the following areas of work:
- Identifying policies to address major constraints faced by many developing
countries in responding to environmental challenges, such as lack of technical,
financial, institutional and supply capacities, taking into account the environmental
and developmental needs and situations of each country;
- Enhancing understanding of the economic and social implications of trade
measures for environmental purposes for countries at different levels of development,
including the effects of environmental requirements on developing countries’ exports;
- Identifying specific capacity-building needs of developing countries and
promoting a broad programme of capacity-building on trade, environment and
development.
Paragraph 147.
UNCTAD should also, in full cooperation with other relevant
organizations, in particular and where appropriate WIPO and WHO, promote
analysis and consensus building with a view to identifying issues that could
yield potential
benefits to developing countries, including the link between public health
and development. This should focus on:
- An examination of the economic and developmental implications of multilateral
environment agreements and identification of ways to promote the effective
implementation of measures to achieve global environmental objectives;
-Examining ways to promote the indigenous development and transfer of environmentally
sound technologies to developing countries, including through the implementation
of relevant provisions in the TRIPS Agreement, for example articles 7 and 66.2
of that Agreement, in order to contribute to the promotion of technological
innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology to the mutual
advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge in a manner conducive
to social and economic welfare and to a balance of rights and obligations;
- Taking into account the objectives and provisions of the Convention on Biological
Diversity and the TRIPS Agreement, studying ways to protect traditional knowledge,
innovations and practices of local and indigenous communities and enhance cooperation
on research and development on technologies associated with the sustainable
use of biological resources;
- Examining the potential trade and developmental effects and opportunities
of environmental measures, taking into account the concerns of developing countries,
particularly as regards potential effects on small and medium-sized enterprises;
Supporting developing countries’ efforts in promoting production of and
trading opportunities for environmentally preferable products;
Ways to promote and support investment and trade contributing to economic growth
and sustainable development, inter alia in biological resources, such as the
Biotrade Initiative;
- Examining ways and means to address developing country concerns in the area
of exports of domestically prohibited goods;
Strengthening the importance of adequately valuing natural resources with a
view to enhancing the competitiveness of goods and services generated by those
resources;
- Helping developing countries in enhancing understanding of the trade, environmental,
including biodiversity, and developmental implications of biotechnologies;
Supporting R&D capacity-building and legal and regulatory systems, in support
of the work programme of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology
for Development;
- Continuing its work as task manager on trade, environment and sustainable
development for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
Main Tasks
- to undertake analytical work on trade, environment and development,
including in the field of competitiveness, market access, eco-labelling, multilateral
environmental agreements, positive/ supportive/ enabling measures, and
trade liberalization and sustainable development, and to disseminate the
results;
- to monitor developments in the field of trade and environment, in particular
in the WTO;
- to build concensus among member States on the interaction between environment
and trade policies from a development perspective;
to assist developing countries in the area of trade and environment, including
through the use of country studies, technical assistance programmes, and
training, including:
- to enhance the capacity of the public and private sectors of developing
countries to address, in a participatory framework, trade and sustainable
development
issues;
- to support the effective participation of developing countries in deliberations
of the relevant international forums; and
- to contribute to the design and implementation of economic policies and
measures to ensure that developing countries obtain economic benefits from
the full
use of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
- to disseminate information on the relationship between trade and environment
to policy makers