The Need for Global Environmental Health Policy

Abstract

The world economy has been growing by an average of 3.5% a year. Continued global development is sustainable if overall social assets remain constant or rise over time, including manufactured, human, and environmental capital. Sustainable development requires that society not decrease its overall assets. But unregulated global trade may result in long-term loss of environmental capital. Multilateral governance is needed. Classical business models tend to view environmental damage as an externality—an impact on a third party's welfare that is neither compensated nor appropriated. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development clearly states that economic development must err on the side of environmental integrity. Whereas UN Environmental Program policy requires precaution in the face of scientific uncertainty, World Trade Organization policy requires scientific certainty before precaution can be used. The conflict is obvious. In fact, there is gross lack of policy coordination across institutions. This article looks at some environmental strains and concludes that trade policy must address all aspects of human welfare, not merely the economic.