Trade, Precaution and Global Challenges

The broad objective in this regard is to find fair ways to apply the precautionary principle in trade policy

The Challenge

In the face of the increasing speed of human innovation and impacts of human activities, the precautionary principle has become key to modern environmental regulation. The lack of scientific certainty about environmental or health risks, should not prevent protective measures from being taken. However, in trade policy, this could lead to spurious “green protectionism”, and this tension is the background for a number of trade disputes that have been taken to the WTO, e.g. on hormones in beef or genetically modified organisms in food. Still, the WTO has not yet any definite ruling with regard to the precautionary principle as such.

When applying the precautionary principle in a trade context, WWF believes there is a need to put in place principles that help strike the balances in an optimal manner between the legitimate interests of exporting countries and importing countries. This will often be difficult, as exemplified by the case of imports of Brazil nuts (containing a toxin called aflatoxin) to the EU: The EU has imposed lower maximum levels of aflatoxins in Brazil nuts for consumer health reasons than what the UN Codex Alimentarius has recommended (low level exposure to aflatoxins can provoke liver cancer: The main risk is when it is combined with hepatitis B, in which case lowering maximum levels can make sense – however hepatitis B remains rare in the EU). This has led to reduced exports of Brazil nuts from a number of Latin American countries, despite Brazil nuts being generally regarded as supporting development through their impact on poverty and sustainable forestry (poor families are involved and they give economic value to existing forests).

What we do

WWF is addressing the systemic failure of intergovernmental organisations to adequately consider legitimate environmental and health concerns while addressing the needs of exporters - particularly those in developing countries. We work with ecologists, lawyers, economists and political scientists both in the North and the South to develop proposals for applying the precautionary principle in a coherent manner.