The World Trade Organization: Its Implications for Sustainable Development

Abstract

While the interactions between trade and the environment have begun to receive sustained attention, little notice has been taken of the environmen tal ramifications of the new World Trade Organization/ This organization, a product of the recently concluded Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, may have serious implications for the future of sustainable development. Much of environmental management is process, so the institutional setting for implementation is critical to the success of many environmental regimes. The environmental dimension of trade policy may become a dominant issue for the WTO, and it is ill equipped to address it.