Conservation Initiatives in the TPP
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From OFF THE CUFF December 2011/January 2012 (Volume 3, Issue 1)
You’ve been hearing a lot about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and USA-ITA’s work to ensure that the agreement will work for the textile and apparel industry. Did you know, however, that others are working hard to ensure that the agreement not only works for various industries, but also works for the environment? On December 5th, we attended an event at The Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., to learn about conservation initiatives in the TPP—and to hear from Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis about the status of the negotiations.
Marantis kicked off the packed event by talking broadly about conservation initiatives in the TPP, which are some of the most ambitious conservation initiatives in any trade policy ever. TPP is a platform for economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, but we must pursue trade and economic growth with “keen sensitivity to environmental protection,” he said. The Obama Administration is thus working to incorporate environmental initiatives “never before implemented in trade.” The Obama Administration has already made progress in incorporating environmental initiatives into trade policy and hopes to lower barriers on environmental goods to 5 percent or less by 2015. If the Administration has its way, TPP will go even farther by eliminating barriers on environmental goods, prohibiting the trade of illegally harvested forest products, and inhibiting illegal trade and trafficking in wildlife products and wild plant products, to name a few of the initiatives, explained Marantis. These positions are outlined in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Green Paper on Conservation Initiatives and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was released the day of the event and can be found here.
In short, TPP will not only provide a new trading region, but will also provide a “new community to preserve our wildlife” and the environment, Marantis concluded. The Administration hopes that TPP will show that trade and environmental policies can be compatible—and that the world will be better off both economically and environmentally when they are.
The event also featured representatives from environmental stakeholders, including Eric Bilsky, Assistant General Counsel and Senior Litigator for Oceana; Lisa Handy, Senior Policy Advisor for the Environmental Investigation Agency; and, Mark Linscott, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Environment and Natural Resources. William Krist, Senior Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, moderated the event. Their bios are available here. You can also download Oceana’s paper on promoting sustainable trade in seafood products and EIA’s paper on why illegal logging and associated trade matters to the TPP. Of particular note, EIA calls for the need for legal framework within trade agreements regarding illegally sourced wood products. “Until recently, wood imports were legal by default in most countries--no questions asked. Yet the landscape for legality has changed significantly in the past decade,” the paper notes. “With the advent of the U.S. Lacey Act amendments, the FLEGT process, the EU due diligence legislation, and provisions such as those in the U.S.-Peru FTA, questions about legal sourcing of timber and wood products are increasingly prominent.” EIA is generally supportive of the Lacey Act.
Linscott closed the discussion by elaborating on USTR’s plans for this “unprecedented” mix of trade and environmental policy. It’s unprecedented, he said, because nine different countries are coming together with both a “common vision to lead in increasing economic integration as well as “identifying shared interests in promoting the environment and conserving natural resources.”
Of course, many in the audience were most interested in the status of the negotiations. Linscott said that the negotiators are “moving ahead without delay” and reiterated that they hope to conclude negotiations in 2012.
We all know that the TPP is important to the textile and apparel industry, and we’re eager to see it passed. As we reflect on the past year and plan for the future, it’s nice to know that such an important initiative for the economy could also help the environment, too.