NAMA NEGOTIATIONS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

The document argues that WTO NAMA negotiations are largely ignoring environmental risks associated with tariff elimination in sectors like forestry and fisheries. It further cautions against the potential for non-tariff barrier (NTB) negotiations to undermine legitimate domestic environmental, health, and safety standards, while noting that developing countries often lack the capacity to meet these standards.

• Tariff elimination negotiations in environmentally-sensitive sectors—specifically fisheries, forest products, chemicals, and raw materials—are proceeding informally without sufficient consideration of environmental impacts.
• The document asserts that the liberalization of trade in sensitive sectors should not occur without adequate impact assessments and the integration of mitigation strategies into negotiations.
• Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) have been categorized by the WTO Secretariat into four groups based on whether they are covered by existing WTO Agreements and whether they have a specific negotiating mandate under the Doha Round.
• Several WTO Members have notified legitimate environmental and health standards as trade barriers, including the EU's REACH legislation for chemicals, EU energy efficiency policies for appliances, and US fuel efficiency policies.
• The briefing warns that NTB negotiations must not result in the dilution of legitimate public policy measures for the environment, health, and safety, but should instead address the capacity gaps of developing country exporters to meet these standards.

APA

Bernasconi-Osterwalder, N., & Sherman, L. (2005). NAMA NEGOTIATIONS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/NamaNegotiations_28Jul05.pdf

Chicago

Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Nathalie, and Linsey Sherman. NAMA NEGOTIATIONS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE. Center for International Environmental Law, 2005. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/NamaNegotiations_28Jul05.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bernasconi-Osterwalder |first1=Nathalie |last2=Sherman |first2=Linsey |title=NAMA NEGOTIATIONS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=28 July 2005 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/NamaNegotiations_28Jul05.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bernasconiosterwalder2005nama, author = {Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Nathalie and Sherman, Linsey}, title = {{NAMA NEGOTIATIONS: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2005}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/NamaNegotiations_28Jul05.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }