COMERCIO INTERNACIONAL Y DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE

The report analyzes how Argentina's trade liberalization in the 1990s affected its environmental footprint. It finds that while the manufacturing export pattern remained dominated by high-pollution sectors, the agro-industrial sector experienced a 'virtuous' cycle where technological adoption, such as no-till farming and transgenic crops, improved soil health and reduced certain chemical residues. The document argues that Argentina's competitive advantage in sustainable agriculture could be leveraged in international negotiations, provided that national policies continue to support research and development in 'soft' technologies.

• Argentina's manufacturing export pattern remained relatively stable and pollution-intensive throughout the 1990s; sectors with high or medium pollution potential accounted for 72% of manufacturing exports in 1990 and 69% in 1997.
• The adoption of no-till farming (siembra directa) in Argentina grew rapidly from 300,000 hectares in 1990-91 to 5.5 million hectares in 1997-98, surpassing the United States in terms of the proportion of total cultivated area.
• The use of transgenic crops, particularly glyphosate-tolerant soy, has provided environmental benefits by reducing the total amount of agrochemicals used and replacing residual herbicides like atrazine with environmentally neutral ones.
• No-till farming in Argentina has the potential to act as a carbon sink, with projections suggesting that 11 million hectares under this practice by 2002/2003 could sequester up to 187 million metric tons of carbon equivalent.
• Trade liberalization and increased competition led large and foreign-owned manufacturing firms to improve their environmental management as a cost-reduction strategy, evidenced by a rise in ISO 14001 certifications.
• The expansion of complementary irrigation using groundwater poses a latent threat to the sustainability of aquifers, as there is a lack of specific regulatory norms and precise information on recharge capacity.
• Argentina's export destinations shifted toward regionalization, with the Mercosur becoming increasingly important while the relative weight of developed countries (OECD) declined.
• Agricultural subsidies in the European Union are identified as a 'lose-lose' scenario, as they distort international prices, discourage investment in sustainable technologies in competitive countries, and induce unsustainable intensification in the EU.
• The report argues that the 'virtuous' cycle of agricultural intensification in the Pampas was largely due to the availability of external technologies and favorable circumstances, and that future sustainability will depend on national R&D and 'soft' technologies (knowledge-intensive optimization).
• Environmental regulations and eco-labeling in developed countries have not been a primary limiting factor for Argentine exports, as the shift toward regional markets (Mercosur) reduced exposure to these requirements.

APA

Chudnovsky, D., Rubin, S., Cap, E., & Trigo, E. (1999). COMERCIO INTERNACIONAL Y DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/xprt1990sfull_s.pdf

Chicago

Chudnovsky, Daniel, Sebastián Rubin, Eugenio Cap, and Eduardo Trigo. COMERCIO INTERNACIONAL Y DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 1999. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/xprt1990sfull_s.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chudnovsky |first1=Daniel |last2=Rubin |first2=Sebastián |last3=Cap |first3=Eugenio |last4=Trigo |first4=Eduardo |title=COMERCIO INTERNACIONAL Y DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=1999 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/xprt1990sfull_s.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chudnovsky1999comercio, author = {Chudnovsky, Daniel and Rubin, Sebastián and Cap, Eugenio and Trigo, Eduardo}, title = {{COMERCIO INTERNACIONAL Y DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {1999}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/xprt1990sfull_s.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }