How Trade Facilitation Measures Impact Current Law and Policy on the Wildlife and Timber Trade: Case study of the Greater Mekong Subregion

This case study examines how trade facilitation measures in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) may exacerbate the illegal trade of wildlife and timber by easing the movement of goods across borders, and provides recommendations for policymakers to mitigate these risks.

• Infrastructure, telecommunications, and trade developments in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are potentially worsening the threat to biodiversity because improvements that ease the movement of goods also provide illegal wildlife and timber traders with easier access to these facilities.
• Global demand for wildlife and timber is currently depleting habitats in the GMS, and the increased ease of moving goods across international borders provided by trade facilitation measures could further increase this depletion.
• To counter the adverse effects of trade facilitation, GMS states should take several specific actions: rationalize biodiversity and law enforcement measures to find gaps, assess the WTO trade facilitation agreement from the Doha Development Round, and coordinate with customs to identify vulnerabilities in agreements like the Cross Border Transport Agreement.
• The document recommends that GMS states evaluate if border checkpoints under the Cross Border Transport Agreement are in smuggling-prevalent areas and are properly equipped, and suggests negotiating a new protocol to that agreement to impose stricter requirements for the transport of wildlife and timber.

APA

Barcenas, (2010). How Trade Facilitation Measures Impact Current Law and Policy on the Wildlife and Timber Trade: Case study of the Greater Mekong Subregion. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/how-trade-facilitation-measures-impact-current-law-and-policy-wildlife-and

Chicago

Barcenas,. How Trade Facilitation Measures Impact Current Law and Policy on the Wildlife and Timber Trade: Case study of the Greater Mekong Subregion. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2010. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/how-trade-facilitation-measures-impact-current-law-and-policy-wildlife-and.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Barcenas, |title=How Trade Facilitation Measures Impact Current Law and Policy on the Wildlife and Timber Trade: Case study of the Greater Mekong Subregion |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=25 June 2010 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/how-trade-facilitation-measures-impact-current-law-and-policy-wildlife-and |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{barcenas2010how, author = {Barcenas,}, title = {{How Trade Facilitation Measures Impact Current Law and Policy on the Wildlife and Timber Trade: Case study of the Greater Mekong Subregion}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2010}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/how-trade-facilitation-measures-impact-current-law-and-policy-wildlife-and}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }