Trading with the Environment

Unless the world's trading system takes into account the ecosystems on which it depends, it could undermine the basis for its own future. This book treats the environment and socioeconomic development as both sides of a single coin, analyzing the institutions and policies of world trade from the perspective of ecological economics. The first part of the book outlines the interrelations between ecosystems, economic development and trade. The second provides an economic analysis of trade and the environment, and the third part examines the legal and institutional framework for trade and how it could be modified so that trade actually contributes to ecologically sustainable development. In a final chapter the authors set out 16 recommendations to achieve environmentally beneficial trade at both national and international levels.