Day 1 - Afternoon Sessions

There is a large focus this week on the role of International Trade in development, highlighted by the fact that next week is the 2010 Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York City. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of 8 broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals, under the United Nations Development Network (UNDP), and adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015. These goals provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions including income poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality, and environmental degradation. http://www.undp.org/mdg/index.shtml 

Many of the session panelists have used next week’s meeting as an opportunity to revisit the original intention of the Doha Round of negotiations, also known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The complex relationship between international trade and development was mentioned time and time again during 3 of the afternoon sessions on the first day of the Forum.

Agricultural trade and investment rules for the 21st century

There was much discussion during this session on food security, and the productivity and profitability of small farms, in developing countries, and the need for this to be a key focus in international trade and at the domestic level.

The panel pointed to key factors limiting sustainable agriculture such as an over-reliance on pesticides, lack of awareness of the broader issues associated with agriculture production, as well as the focus on exports and external inputs.

Panelists also pointed out that it is unrealistic to expect countries not to put in place certain measures to protect their food security in and increasingly liberalized environment, and that trade rules applied broadly to agriculture can cause problems given the complexity and uniqueness of agriculture, especially in developing countries.

It was agreed upon that food is essential to survival and therefore is different than other matters of trade, and that the high highs and low lows, as well as the extreme price volatility of agricultural commodities, seen during the recent food and financial crises, have to be addressed through increased transparency at all levels of trade policy.

"Don't Trade their Future Away"- just some of the imagery
around the grounds of the WTO

The right to development — a tool to boost coherence between trade, development and human rights?

It was interesting to hear the discussions as part of this session given that development is such a large focus of the Public Forum. The panelists all, however, examined the current disconnect between “development” and the “right to development” which is currently not recognized as a right at the operational level of the WTO.

While the panelist agreed that there is a direct link between trade and development, it was unclear as to how to reach a proper balance. Some panelists argued that it is necessary to institute a policy of preferential treatment for developing countries, while others argued that countries should be entitled to make their own interventions where necessary; that the individual should not be sacrificed for the collective.

Beyond border carbon adjustment measures: Standards, labelling and the issue of emission allowances

The discussion of carbon measurement standards and labeling was interesting, however it remained unclear as to how any system of global measurement and trade could be achieved given the wide variety of production methods, particularly in agriculture, and the cost associated with being certified y various measurement standards. This was especially important to note given the fact that even within domestic markets there are such a variety of carbon measurement standards and labeling practices (such as in the U.K.) which in the current environment of liberalized trade can prove quite costly, and therefore not feasible, for manufacturers and producers in developing countries.  

The session did highlight some emerging initiatives to establish global carbon measurement standards, such as the ISO Carbon Footprint Standard (14067) currently under development.

Of note was a comment by the Chair of an Eastern African Farmer’s group, who pointed out that greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprints in Africa are not of mitigation, but more so an issue of adoption, however African farmers are being held to the same standard as those in more industrialized societies without having the same input and resources.

(Left to Right) Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) President, Ron Bonnett

and Vice-President ,Garnet Etsell, attend the session on Carbon Adjustment Measures