Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1. Preliminary issues and basic considerations -- The intellectual co-ordinates -- The development of foreign trade policy -- Basic assumptions and their validity -- Transport and world trade -- The indispensable interdisciplinary viewpoint -- The systems theory perspective -- The ecological perspective -- The human biology perspective -- Appropriate technology -- Ethics and the legal code -- Further aspects -- References -- SECTION 1: The current performance of the world trade system and the World Trade Organisation -- 2. The present legal basis of the world trade system -- The establishment of the World Trade Organisation -- The starting point -- The failure of the International Trade Organisation -- The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as an intermediate solution -- From the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to the World Trade Organisation -- The present scope of the World Trade Organisation -- The World Trade Organisation as an institution -- Membership -- The individual bodies -- Decision-making and dispute settlement -- General World Trade Organisation regulations -- Mutual goals -- The most-favoured nation principle -- The national treatment principle -- The principle of reciprocity -- The removal or reduction of trade barriers -- Allowances for developing countries -- Environmental protection -- Environmental protection regulations found within World Trade Organisation agreements -- Environmentally relevant aspects and the interpretation and application of World Trade Organisation stipulations -- The consequences of the new World Trade Organisation orientation for the future world trade system -- The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade -- The general regulations -- The supplementary agreements.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services -- Basic principles -- Improvement of market access -- Institutional regulations -- The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights -- The plurilateral agreements -- The Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft -- The Agreement on Government Procurement -- The Agreement on Agriculture -- Scope of the Agreement -- Market access -- The reduction of domestic support -- The reduction of export subsidies -- Further regulations -- Free-trade market versus special interests -- The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures -- Scope of the Agreement -- The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures -- The definition of subsidies -- Dispute settlement procedure -- The position of developing countries -- The institutions -- The necessity for further negotiations -- References -- 3. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and basic aspects of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures -- The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade -- Scope of applicability of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade -- The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures -- The principle of necessity -- Prohibition of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination -- International standards and the permissibility of higher national standards -- Consistency -- Obligation to use the least trade-restrictive measure -- The precautionary principle -- Other important provisions and transparency -- Some important conclusions -- The relevance of international standards -- The scientific backing of measures -- Harmonisation and mutual recognition within the field of technical barriers to trade -- References -- 4. The producer support estimate and the aggregate measure of support: suitable gauges for evaluating agricultural and trade policy?.

Background -- Assumption 1: the same production strategies are assumed to be sensible for all the different agricultural systems on the Earth -- Assumption 2: all public interventions in the market are undesirable eo ipso -- Assumption 3: all public compensation falls into the category of undesirable support, even if it involves public funds paid as compensation for performance in the interest of the general public -- Summary -- The producer support estimate -- The aggregate measure of support -- Conclusions -- References -- SECTION 2: The theory of international trade -- 5. A few remarks on trade theory -- A brief outline of trade theory -- The role of competition -- International trade and externalities -- Conclusions -- Does free trade prevent an efficient level of environmental and social standards? -- Theoretical considerations -- Empirical evidence -- References -- 6. Free trade and its effects: some critical comments -- Carrying capacity, ecosystem resilience and international trade -- Is international trade harmful or beneficial for the environment? -- Links between trade and growth -- The delinking of the income-environment relationship -- The environmental Kuznets-curve hypothesis -- Concluding remarks -- References -- SECTION 3: International trade: agricultural and environmental aspects -- 7. International trade on the rise: a brief introduction -- References -- 8. Sustainability: a challenge for future economic and social policy -- A short history of the term 'sustainability' -- Substantive dimensions of sustainability and their significance for agriculture -- A working suggestion for the definition of sustainability: can organic farming be seen as a synonym for sustainable agriculture? -- References -- 9. Agriculture, trade and the environment -- References -- 10. The special case of agriculture.

Arguments for and against the special treatment of agriculture -- Arguments in favour of protecting agriculture -- Conclusions -- Social justice -- National macroeconomic goals -- Control of market structures -- References -- 11. Reasons for measures aimed at the stabilisation of production and markets in the agricultural sector -- References -- 12. Important factors influencing future scenarios regarding food supplies,world population and environment -- Securing food supplies: a global political challenge -- Food security is not simply a problem of the quantity produced -- Development of world population and food security -- References -- 13. Environmental issues and their significance for agriculture and the food industry -- Environmental management: a challenge for international co-operation -- Problems of agriculture and the food industry: an issue not exclusively concerning world trade -- Soils: the very basis for agriculture and the food industry -- The current situation -- Availability of agricultural area and the potential for improved yields -- Soil degradation as a cause of productivity decreases -- Water as an environmental factor in agriculture and plant production -- The current situation -- Marked increase in the use of fresh water for agricultural purposes -- Water: a basic and often over-used resource -- Biodiversity -- References -- 14. Analysis of current developments in international agricultural trade -- Remarks concerning the procedure and the database -- Developments of world trade in major agricultural products since the completion of the Uruguay Round -- Cereals -- Wheat -- Rice -- Coarse grains -- Oilseeds -- Meat -- Milk -- Results and conclusions -- Effects of the Uruguay Round -- Key players and their interests -- Recommendations -- References -- 15. The World Trade Organisation and Agenda 2000.

The core and the tragedy of Agenda 2000 -- Basic orientation: the core -- Conflicting objectives -- Required initiatives -- Initiatives required at an international level -- Improved private market organisation at the EU level -- A closer relationship between humankind, nature and environmental protection -- Supporting initiatives on a domestic level -- Remarks on the agricultural trade conflict -- Alliance with the developing countries -- Federal Agricultural Improvement Act 1996 and Agenda 2000 -- Position of the Cairns Group -- What will be the future agricultural paradigm? -- References -- SECTION 4: Theoretical propositions for harmonising sustainable agriculture and free trade -- 16. Solutions within the existing theoretical framework: environmental and trade policy measures -- Interlinkages between agricultural and environmental policy: or, why environmental policy measures are relevant in agricultural policy -- Agricultural policy goals -- Environmental policy goals -- Policy goals and solutions -- Embedding the two policy fields of environment and agriculture into the world trade system -- Policy instruments suitable for guiding agriculture towards sustainability and in conformity with the present world trade order -- Fiscal measures -- Non-fiscal measures -- References -- 17. Ecological economics as a new integrative approach -- References -- 18. Conclusions and proposals for solutions -- Necessary further development of the legal framework and its application -- Basic orientations -- The necessity of external guardrails -- The World Trade Organisation in development: illustrative panel decisions -- The indispensability of framework agreements -- Legal development through case law and authentic interpretation -- Improving the acknowledgement of social, health and environmental aspects -- Essential problems.

Does the World Trade Organisation limit an effective environmental policy?.

Identifies the strengths and weaknesses of liberalized world trade, in particular in the agricultural sector, and investigates to which extent the current WTO agreements provide the devices to react to trade-related negative impacts on sustainability, environmental protection and food security.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.