SA II is the second phase of the "Southern Agenda on Trade and Environment," launched by IISD and ICTSD in 2001. The project is built on the conviction that developing countries have important environmental issues that need to be addressed in the context of the multilateral trading system. If developing countries have, to date, largely opposed attempts to give priority to environment in the trade context, it is because the existing agenda was skewed towards issues of concern principally to developed countries.

The first phase of the project sought to gather and present Southern perspectives on the trade and environment link, building essentially on consultations with developing country trade policy representatives in Geneva. Read the project report here.

The goal for Phase II is to respond to the opportunity offered by the WTO's Doha mandate on trade and environment, strengthening the capacity of trade negotiators, key national policy-makers, and regional actors in developing countries to determine priorities for promoting and negotiating proactive positions which reflect their own "Southern Agenda" on environment and trade.

The project will:

• develop a trade and environment negotiations resource book as a tool to facilitate informed participation in negotiations and policy decision-making processes;

• through participation in dialogues among policy-makers and other key actors in selected developing regions, identify regional/national priorities, and cutting-edge research needed to support negotiation and policy-making in the context of multilateral negotiations on trade and environment;

• use informal consultation with Geneva delegates to support linkages among regional stakeholders and negotiators from developing countries, and ensure that regional interests on trade and environment are taken into account at multilateral trade negotiations; and

• Inform and influence a broad range of key stakeholders at the regional and international level through dissemination of groundbreaking research, outcomes of regional dialogues and negotiation resources.

Phase II of the Southern Agenda was launched in April 2003, and will be carried out over a two-year period, with generous support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, The Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation and the International Development Research Centre, (Canada). The project will be implemented through a collaborative partnership between IISD, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, partners from the Regional and International Networking Group (THE RING), and other selected regional partners working in trade and environment. A small Advisory Committee comprising key high level trade delegates from Asia, Africa and Latin America will supervise the project.