15 Dec 2015: By
Written by Achim Steiner, Scott Vaughn
Two decades ago, the birth of the World Trade Organization rang alarm bells in the environmental community. Would such a comprehensive and ambitious trade agreement steamroll existing environment standards and regulations? Would environmental conventions that restrict and ban trade – as in the case of ozone-depleting substances and endangered species – be ignored in favour of opening markets? Would these new binding and enforceable global trade rules seal the fate of progress on environmental protection?
