WTO Agreement Could Spell Doom to Forests

by Victor Menotti

The WTO's Global Free Logging Agreement (FLA) would accelerate the logging of native forests, weaken environmental protections, and open the door to invasive species. No environmentalists, workers, or community leaders were represented at the FLA discussions. The FLA is seen as such a threat that more than 130 groups have signed a letter demanding an immediate halt to the FLA negotiations.

U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky has told Congress that the FLA is a "top negotiating priority." Barschfsky's advisors include executives from logging giants like Weyerhaeuser, Boise Cascade, International Paper, and Georgia-Pacific. International Paper CEO John Dillon has informed Washington that signing the FLA "is essential to the future success and growth of the U.S. forest products industry."

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Susan Esserman has assured timber lobbyists that the FLA is "very important for us and for the President" and promised to "seek conclusion on the agreement" in Seattle.

The timber industry hopes to target raw-log export bans, government purchasing rules that choose recycled paper or timber from certified-sustainable sources, and local building codes that require the use of non-wood materials.

Non-tariff measures up for elimination include measures to prevent the entry of invasive species. "Bioinvasion" is now the second leading cause of species extinction in the world, after habitat destruction. The WTO currently sets strict limits on what regulations governments can use to prevent the entry of invasive species. The U.S. and other countries are advancing proposals that could challenge even these surviving safeguards as a barrier to trade.

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) -- another emerging type of biological pollution -- are also under discussion at the WTO. The introduction of GMO crops and trees poses risks to native fields and forests. GMOs may migrate, mutate, multiply, and transfer manufactured traits to other organisms and species -- with unpredictable results. The WTO is proposing new global trade laws that would prevent governments from stopping GMOs from entering their country.

The WTO's proposed investment rules would remove the ability of governments to promote sustainable natural resource use. A WTO proposal to ban "performance requirements" would outlaw many of the preconditions that governments demand from foreign investors to ensure that some benefit actually accrues to the local economy. Examples include the promise to transfer green technologies, the commitment to export a certain percentage of production (important for countries in debt), or the assurance of remaining in a given community for an agreed period.

An ugly showdown is coming as the WTO prepares to establish new global rules on logging practices. This new pro-logging regime will pit industry-set guidelines (such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative) against more rigorous standards set in participatory processes (like the Forest Stewardship Council).

The U.S. timber industry now says that it cannot compete against logging operations in countries with little or no environmental regulation or enforcement. U.S. timber interests have specifically named the U.S. Endangered Species Act as the biggest burden on U.S. competitiveness.

Timber interests now want a set of harmonized global rules to "level the playing field." If adopted, these industry-set WTO standards would lock-in weak protections in countries with major reserves of native resources (Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia), while exposing relatively stronger protections (such as exist in the U.S.) to challenge under the WTO.

Whether you are working to protect endangered species, reduce wood-fiber consumption, promote certified timber, encourage community-based forestry, or protect old-growth trees, the WTO is on a collision course with your efforts. We need to examine how trade and investment policies affect forests. We need to advance a positive vision of global trade and investment regulations that will ensure the protection of forest ecosystems and the people who inhabit them.

In recent years, the international forest protection community has developed a voice to influence the lending policies of the World Bank and other multilateral development institutions. We now must do the same with trade and investment policy -- the new arena of forest protection.