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Key Message

Trade liberalization is a major engine of economic growth, so it has great potential as a force for sustainable development. Unfortunately, the link is not automatic. Where trade policy is in conflict with environment and development policy, it can delay or even undermine the achievement of sustainable development. IISD's work on trade focuses on how we can help ensure positive outcomes.

Video


Flavia Thomé talks about the Trade Knowledge Network
(Flash Video - 1:35 min)

Team


Mark Halle· Mark Halle
Vice-President, International
Aaron Cosbey· Aaron Cosbey
Associate and Senior Climate Change and Trade Advisor
Adil Najam· Adil Najam
Associate and Senior Fellow
Christopher Beaton· Christopher Beaton
Research and Communications Officer
Chris Charles· Chris Charles
Project Manager
Elka Parveva-Kern· Elka Parveva-Kern
Project Assistant
Damon Vis-Dunbar· Damon Vis-Dunbar
Network and Communications Coordinator
Fariba Di Benedetto-Achtari· Fariba Di Benedetto-Achtari
Office Administrator
Flavia Thomé· Flavia Thomé
Project Manager
Howard Mann· Howard Mann
Associate & Senior International Law Advisor
Jason Potts· Jason Potts
Associate and Program Manager, SMART
Lucy Kitson· Lucy Kitson
Research Officer - Economist
Oshani Perera· Oshani Perera
Program Leader
Peter Wooders· Peter Wooders
Senior Economist
Robert Wolfe· Robert Wolfe
Associate
Ron Steenblik· Ron Steenblik
emeritus Director of Research
Sabrina Shaw· Sabrina Shaw
Associate; Writer/Editor Earth Negotiations Bulletin
Tara Laan· Tara Laan
Associate
Deborah Roosen· Deborah Roosen
Programme Administrator
John Forgách· John Forgách
Senior Fellow and Associate
Alec Crawford· Alec Crawford
Associate
Ivetta Gerasimchuk· Ivetta Gerasimchuk
Research Officer
Tilmann Liebert· Tilmann Liebert
Project Officer
Simon Zadek· Simon Zadek
Senior Fellow and Associate

International Trade

Making international trade work for sustainable development

What's New in International Trade?

  • Announcement: UNFSS Launching EventAnnouncement: UNFSS Launching Event
    The official public launch of the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) will be held in Geneva on March 21 and 22, 2013. The UNFSS is coordinated by five UN bodies: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

  • Food Price Inflation and Food Security: A Morocco case study
    This report comes in the context of rising food prices and UN predictions of a looming global food crisis in 2013. Written at the request of Pulse Canada, it provides insight into food price inflation and food security in low-income countries, and the implications for international agricultural trade. This report provides important detailed analysis of the relationship between pulses and Morocco's efforts to open up its economy in the context of the current global economic situation.

  • Chinese Outward Investment: An emerging policy framework
    This book is an English-language compilation covering over 80 primary texts relevant to Chinese outward investment issued from January 2000 to January 2012. By combining these primary materials into one comprehensive and accessible English-language source, IISD and Institute for International Economic Research are filling a gap in the available literature. The compilation makes these primary sources easy to access and understand, which will facilitate a broader and deeper understanding of Chinese outward investment and the policies supporting it, and, importantly, will facilitate more and improved discourse on and analysis of the relationship between Chinese outward investment and sustainable development.

  • Locating Accountability: Conceptual and categorical challenges in the literature
    This report maps out the accountability literature and challenges the standard way of analyzing accountability. The first main section of the paper outlines and analyzes concepts of accountability, while the second main section examines the way accountability actually functions.

  • China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED): Main Topics Report by the CCICED Task Force on Investment, Trade, and Environment
    This research paper described the current state of Chinese international trade and investment activities, and sought to understand how they affected China’s drive toward its sustainable development and green shift goals. The study provided realistic and user-friendly recommendations that could be implemented to accelerate and expand the positive contribution of investment and trade to the environment while the economy evolves. In this process, the Task Force also explored how China could cooperate with its trading partners and investment rivals to promote bilateral green shift opportunities. Finally, the Task Force focused on how China could carry out multilateral cooperation with the international community in the fields of investment and trade, helping establish and improve relevant systems and mechanisms to promote a global green shift.

International trade has enormous potential to foster or frustrate sustainable development. By allowing for specialization, trade can increase incomes and contribute to increased well-being. Openness to investment and trade can bring new environmentally-friendly technologies and processes.

But trade can also allow powerful global demand to deplete countries' natural resources and create increased pollution. And the benefits of trade are not always well distributed among and within nations.

In seeking positive outcomes, IISD focuses on two major themes, with a particular concern for developing countries:

Contents