Impacts of Environmental Provisions

Abstract

The previous chapter examined the expected impacts of the agreements on the environment, an ex ante analysis. This chapter explores ex post analyses — that is, analyses of the actual impacts with an emphasis on those emanating from the environmental provisions in the trade agreements. It should be noted that many of the trade agreements discussed in the preceding chapters are recent and little time has passed to allow environmental impacts to be manifested. Some, however, have relatively long histories and have been the subject of several studies. NAFTA is an example of the latter and it has been the subject of numerous studies, including those carried out by or for the NAAEC. Consequently, the first part of this chapter examines its environmental consequences in some detail. The remainder of the chapter will survey available information about the environmental impacts of other FTAs for which information is available.