4: Trade and Environmental Linkages

Broaden understanding of trade and environment linkages and thereby promote policy coherence, both at the domestic and regional levels in North America.

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Projects will promote and facilitate training, compliance assistance and enforcement to expedite and facilitate the movement of legal materials while stopping illegal shipments that could present threats to human health or the environment: - Promote and facilitate the training of law and custom enforcement officials to detect, identify, analyze, and enforce against illegal shipments of hazardous waste, ozone depleting substances, protected species, and other illegal materials; - Develop models for information sharing among the Parties to foster improved understanding of illegal activities and the movement of illegal goods; and - Promote and develop compliance assistance activities aimed at informing firms of the laws, procedures and best practices related to transboundary shipping. Illegal shipments of hazardous materials, waste, and wildlife threaten human health and the environment. According to the International Crime Threat Assessment Report, international crime syndicates world-wide earn $13.5 to $22 billion annually from hazardous waste dumping, smuggling hazardous materials, and exploiting and trafficking in protected national resources. Improved training and coordination of customs officials, environmental officials and law enforcement personnel will allow them to spot potentially illegal shipments and take appropriate action. Likewise, training and improved communication will enable the Parties to quickly identify legal shipments and expedite their movement. Training and compliance assistance to affected firms will help speed trade in legal goods while providing greater protection for human health and the environment. Projects will continue documenting any environmental effects of trade liberalization in North America; improve the capacity of CEC and the Parties to analyze and understand NAFTA’s environmental effects; and, support information sharing between Canada and the United States and with Mexico, as appropriate, on methodologies for conducting environmental reviews of trade agreements: - Identify gaps and data needs in order to better assess the possible relationship between increased NAFTA-related economic activity and environmental conditions, and the economic and regulatory effects of trade liberalization on the environment; - Maximize data availability through CEC activities such as the Taking Stock reports; - Support sectoral analysis including through the North American Symposia on Understanding the Linkages Between Trade and Environment; - Build synergies and share information among the Parties with the aim of further developing, refining, and testing a framework for assessing the environmental impacts of trade, with a view to enhancing the environmental reviews of NAFT; and. - Engage with citizens and civil organizations in all of the three countries, especially at the community level. Article 10(6)(d) of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation requires the Parties on an ongoing basis to assess the environmental effects of the NAFTA. As a result, promoting a better understanding of trade and environmental linkages has been central to the CEC mandate.

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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