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Rapid Trade and Environment Assessment

The Rapid Trade and Environment Assessment (RTEA) project involves assessing the environmental impacts of trade and investment liberalization in two pilot projects, set in Thailand and Laos. It began in October 2006, and will finish with workshops in each country to present the results in June 2007. The project, which builds on the key elements of IISD work on sustainable development to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of trade liberalization, aims to develop and refine a tool that can be used to flag areas of concern or opportunity for sustainable development in the current and contemplated trade negotiations.

While the current pilot projects will help Thailand and Laos define their strategic interests in the trade negotiations currently underway, IISD intends to develop the RTEA tool used to perform the assessment to deliver policy advice in other countries. Rather than focus on quantitative assessment, the RTEA aims to raise red flags in key areas, alerting negotiators and policy-makers to environmental concerns and opportunities. This alone may be sufficient to warrant a change in the negotiating stance or the need for domestic policy measures. Or, it may indicate that more detailed analysis needs to be carried out.

Refining the methodology – The evolving methodology of the RTEA tool is based on a six-step process:

• Step I: Partnership building with key government and non-governmental actors in the country (establishment of a National Expert Advisory Panel to guide the research);

• Step II: Setting the context through statistical, empirical and economic analysis;

• Step III: Expert input through broad-based stakeholder interviews and a literature review;

• Step IV: Scenario building to establish the potential impact of liberalization agreements on the regulatory framework, policy coherence and incomes;

• Step V: Analysis of the impact scenario building to identify the potential environmental and social results of the impacts of trade liberalization; and

• Step VI: Conclusions and strategic policy recommendations, culminating in a National Workshop.

Developing partnerships in the Sub-region – To carry out work in the Mekong, IISD has joined forces with the World Conservation Union (IUCN–Asia Regional Office) and signed Memoranda of Understanding with two prominent research institutes in Thailand – the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD) and the Good Governance for Social Development and the Environment Institute (GSEI). IISD is undertaking this project with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency.

As illustrated by the transport networks in the map below, these types of projects will become increasingly important as economic cooperation increases under the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) initiative and in the context of ASEAN – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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