DFID II Project Description..
Status of Project Implementation:
 Funded by the UK Department for International Development and implemented by the UNCTAD secretariat and the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), the project (Project INT/0T/2AQ) started with a planning phase from May 2002 to December 2002, and started the implementation phase in 2003. It will finalise on 30 September 2006.
Donor:
 UK Department for International Development (DFID). The DFID contribution to UNCTAD and FIELD amounts to £ 1 million.
Background:
 This project is a follow-up to the UNCTAD/FIELD project on Strengthening Research and Policy-Making Capacity on Trade and Environment in Developing Countries (Project INT/98/A61) implemented between mid-1999 and mid-2001. It brought together trade and environment policy makers from 10 developing countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda. Three workshops were held in different developing regions that involved a larger group of policy makers, the private sector and NGOs. In the end-of-project workshop (Dar es Salaam, April 2001), participants from developing countries drafted recommendations on technical assistance and capacity-building in trade, environment and development. The lessons learned from this project and the above-mentioned recommendations have played a key role in the design of the new project, which started in June 2002.
Beneficiaries:
 The project has involved some 14 developing countries in 2 regions (South-east Asia, and Central America and the Caribbean). In each region, activities have involved one or two "core" countries and, in addition, three to five "partner" countries (see below). The Asian components of the project paid special attention to the needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The primary beneficiaries of the project's activities are government officials based in capitals. The project also targets representatives of Geneva-based missions responsible for negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). In addition, the project included as target participants of capacity-building activities senior managers in the private sector, academics, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Objectives:
 - Facilitate a process of improving policy co-ordination and developing holistic approaches to trade and environment issues of key concern to the beneficiary countries in a manner that reflects developmental needs.
- Assist interested developing countries in participating effectively in negotiations and discussions on trade and environment in the post-Doha process.
- Assist the core countries in developing and implementing practical and meaningful legal and policy initiatives in at least one specific trade and environment area.
- Contribute to consensus building at the regional level (aimed, among other things, at strengthening developing countries' voices in international discussions and/or negotiations).
Value Added of the Project:

The value added of the project is, among other things, derived from:

- The regional emphasis and interaction between a "core" country and several "partner" countries in the same region.
- An interdisciplinary and inter-ministerial process, embedded in multi-stakeholder approaches to specifically selected trade and environment issues.
- Active involvement of the private sector in all policy dialogues and related analysis with particular emphasis on assuring representation of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
- Recognition of the diversity in developing country priorities and policy options.
- Organization of training workshops on specific T&E issues to facilitate national policy dialogue between trade and environment communities. Training workshops were customized to the needs of specific stakeholders and centred on case studies prepared by national experts.
- Consistent involvement of Geneva-based trade and environment negotiators.
- Effective integration of different components of trade and environment linkages in one project and cross-fertilization with other capacity building projects.

Trade and Environment Issues to be Addressed:

Each region selected key issues from two clusters of subjects outlined below. The selection was facilitated by scoping papers that were prepared for each region. These subjects were formulated as specifically as possible (for instance, have a specific sectoral or product group focus) to maximize the benefit to be drawn from national and regional policy dialogues and also to facilitate the objective of moving beyond mere national dialogue on one subject and assist interested countries in developing and implementing practical and meaningful legal and policy initiatives.

Cluster 1: Issues arising from the Doha Ministerial Declaration
 The project assisted beneficiary developing countries by enhancing understanding of trade and environment issues included in the post-Doha WTO work programme, as well as effective participation in WTO negotiations and discussions on environmental issues of national or regional interest. The project has focused on the following issues:
- Environmental measures and market access for developing countries;
- The reduction or elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services (EGS);
- The relationship between existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set out in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs);
- Labeling for environmental purposes;
- Agriculture and environment, i.e. organic agriculture;
- Sectoral analyisis and market access (i.e. leather and foorwear, electric sector)

Cluster 2: Issues emerging from a previous UNCTAD/FIELD project
 This cluster addressed key trade and environment issues identified by developing countries under the previous project. All these issues are instrumental in helping to ensure that further trade liberalization contributes to sustainable development. They also assist developing countries to derive trade and development gains from the sustainable use of environmental factors. A number of these issues relate directly or indirectly to paragraphs 19, 31 and 32 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and further support activities under cluster one above. The cluster covers the following issues:
promoting trading opportunities for environmentally preferable products;
improving market access for agricultural and tropical products, by enhancing capacities to rrespond to environmental requirements and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures;
preservation of bio-diversity, access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing and systems for the protection of traditional knowledge, including in the area of forestry management;
encouraging sustainable management of materials and natural resources, including material/resource recovery.

Project Activities:

The project will undertake the following main activities:

- National policy dialogues to facilitate policy-coordination on key issues, preferably based on a multi-stakeholder process and with the active involvement of the private sector and other members of civil society.
- Customized training workshops for specific stakeholders based on national case studies in core and partner countries (3 to 4 days).
- Regional workshops bringing together experts from the 'core' country and the 'partner' countries in the same region (one workshop per year in each region) with a view to sharing the results from policy dialogues and other project activities in the core country with the partner countries and facilitating an exchange of national experiences.
- The workshops participants are from government (trade, environment and/or industry ministries), the business community, academia and NGOs.

Inputs and Outputs:

The project activities will generate the following specific inputs and outputs:

    - Analytical papers;
    - Training packages, as far as possible based on the
    - Policy briefing notes;
    - Workshop reports.
    - Most of this material is available on UNCTAD's Trade, Environment and Development website.
UNCTAD:
 Ulrich Hoffmann, overall project manager ulrich.hoffmann@unctad.org tel +41 (0)22 917 5780
  Nuria Castells, project manager Central America and the Caribbean nuria.castells@unctad.org tel +41 (0)22 917 1796, fax +41 (0)22 917 0247