An Environmental Perspective on Seattle

Abstract

From an environmental point of view, the big news coming out of Seattle was not the (non) results of the Ministerial Meeting but rather what took place in the streets. The presence of 20,000 protestors, many of them motivated by a conviction that globalization in general and the work of the WTO in particular was a threat, marks a watershed for the international trading system. In particular, the days of trade negotiations being conducted by a close-knit group of trade cognoscenti out of sight from the rest of the world are gone forever. Trade policy - and its implications for other policy realms, including the environment - is now a very high-profile business. Prior to Seattle, the WTO had failed to come to grips with its role at center stage. It now must.