Download Defining a national position in response to the mandate in

A Presentation
To the WTO Training Activity on Environmental Goods and
Services for Developing Country Members
February 18th 2010
The National Sub-Committee on Trade
and Environment was created via a
Cabinet decision in 1998 under the
Ministry of Environment. It was one of
several sub-committees advising the
Ministry of Foreign Trade on issues
relevant to the international trading
arena.
The Sub- Committee’s primary focus includes:
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Contributing to the development of positions for
international negotiations including the WTO
Trade and Environment Negotiations;
Assisting in developing national policies and
programmes on trade and environment issues;
Facilitating cooperation among actors in the
areas of trade and environment in an effort to
promote the common goal of sustainable
development
The core complement consisted of representatives of:
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The Ministry of Tourism
The Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry
The Barbados Manufacturing Association
The Ministry of Economic Development -Industry Section
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade , Foreign Trade
Division
The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association
The University of the West Indies (Two representatives one form the
Department of Economics and one from the Faculty of Pure and Applied
Sciences)
The Barbados National Standards Institute
The Ministry of the
Environment, Water Resources and Drainage
(Secretariat)
Dr. Frank Ward, Rum Refinery of Mt. Gay is the Chairman of the SubCommittee
An advisory role to the Ministry of Environment
taking the form of:
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Inputs into regional processes and briefs
Participating in developing the Barbadian “Green
Economy”
Discussion on sustainable consumption and production
Inputs into bilateral trade agreements
Working towards the development of national
negotiation positions on trade and environment through
the development and execution of various studies.
A strong national educational focus exemplified through the hosting of
annual seminars. The themes of the seminars to date included:
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Trade, Environment and Competing in the Global Market.
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Environmental Management in Industry.
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Competitive Aspects of Trading.
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Environmental Measures and Agreements- Barriers to Trade, Facilitators
of Trade or just a Nuisance?
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The Role of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy(CSME) in Trade
Liberalisation and the Impacts on Barbados.
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Management Strategies for Energy Use: A Response to Rising Fuel Prices.
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The Liberalisation of Environmental
Opportunities for Business.
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The Green Economy: Benefits for Barbadian Industry.
Services
in
CARICOM
and
In order to position the Government of
Barbados to participate in the ongoing WTO
dialogue on Paragraph 31(iii) of the
Doha Declaration a study entitled “Benefiting
from trade liberalization in environmental
goods and services - identifying the
possibilities” was designed by the NSCTE and
commenced in October 2006. A Consultant
from the University of the West Indies was
retained to carry out the study.
The aim of the study was to:
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Adopt a definition of Environmental Goods (EGS) and
Services and of Environmentally Preferable Products (EPPs)
that are appropriate within the context of Barbados.
Investigate and assess the correspondence between the
types of EGS already in existence in the domestic economy
and those needed to fulfill requirements under existing
Multilateral Environmental Agreements and international
standards.
Identify the industries/sectors/products that are suitable
for development of an export of EGS from Barbados
through an assessment of the productive capacities,
technological capabilities and cost competitiveness in the
domestic EGS industries.
The methodology for the Study summarized :
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A survey (through the use of questionnaires and site
visits) of the local EGS Industry. The survey was done
to determine the range of products and services, the
capacity of industries, technological capability, cost
competitiveness profile, potential for growth and
export potential.
Trade analysis was conducted (involved the
measurement of the extent to which domestic needs
were being met from domestic sources of EGS, the
assessment of usage gains for Barbados as a result of
trade liberalization and measurement of the trade
gains from the export of EGS.
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Barbados’ trade in Environmental Goods was
examined for selected years starting in 1992 up
to 2006, the latest data available prior to
submission of the study. Barbados’ trade
balances are considered in relation to the specific
headings used in the OECD/APEC list.
The
environmental goods were arranged into three
broad groupings:
Group A - Pollution Management;
Group B - Cleaner Technologies and Products;
and
Group C - the Resources Management Group.
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The broad groupings were further separated
for example the Pollution Management group
was separated into six categories :
Air Pollution Control (consisted of 7 subcategories)
Wastewater Management
Solid Waste Management
Remediation and Cleanup
Noise and Vibration Abatement and
Environmental Monitoring, Analysis and
Assessment.
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Within each sub-category the component
goods were identified by the Harmonised
System Code for international trade and
summarised in tables for ease of reference.
The resources management group was
separated into six categories
The cleaner technology group was separated
into two categories:
◦ Cleaner/resource
–efficient
technologies
processes; and
◦ Cleaner/resource-efficient products.
and
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Latin America and the Caribbean as a group
contribute 4% of global exports in EGS and
import twice as much in value as they export (8%)
of these environmental goods(as of 2007)
Some 252 firms in Barbados are listed as
exporters of environmental goods. However,
because of the general nature and multiple use
features of many goods classified as EGs, many
of these firms do not consider their activity as
belonging to the environmental industry.
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Since many survey respondents did not
consider their product as an environmental
good they did not get involved in production
because of any concerns for the environment.
Indeed, the reasons advanced for producing
the specific good(s) were having a skill
needed for the production of that good and
seeing the productive activity as lucrative.
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Trade in environmental goods is in substantial
and widening deficit overall and in every group
and category.
Much of the growth in imports of environmental
goods is related to the rapid recent growth in the
construction industry.
Out of all the categories and sub-categories, only
two minor sub-categories could be identified
where there was a trade surplus. One of these
was the item “cans” related to sewage treatment
in wastewater management, while the other was
the
item
“absorbents”
in
the
Pollution
Management group, category of “remediation and
cleanup.”
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While it was difficult to garner information on the nature of
trade in environmental services, it was relatively easier to
identify the domestic providers who were identified in the
following areas:
Wastewater services
Solid waste management services
Air pollution control
Noise abatement services
Remediation and cleanup for surface and groundwater
Marine and costal ecology
Analytical services
Consultancy services
Construction and installation (although for large scale
projects these services were imported)
Education and training
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The
domestic
environmental
services
providers supply mainly analytical and basic
research services with lower values. Foreign
firms provide the major services including
major equipment installation and monitoring
services.
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The solid waste management sub-sector and
the recycling subsector were fairly well
populated with producers. While it was not
clear that the waste management sub-sector
could move to export their services, the
recyclers were already primarily into exports.
Using the joint OECD/APEC list it was not
possible to guage exports of recycled goods
as this list did not provide HS trade Codes for
these items
The first two recommendations
specifically called for by respondents
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were
Development of Education and Training
Programmes for the associated regulatory
departments.
Implementation
of
the
solid
waste
management regime with emphasis on
establishing
a
competitive
recycling
programme.
The Ministry of the Environment, Water Resources and
Drainage is proposing to undertake further study under
Paragraph 31 (iii).
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Of immediate importance would be projecting the effects
of removal of tariff barriers on trade in EGS. It is envisaged
that this study :
Will be a multi-sectoral;
Will consider the impact of trade on production patterns
and compute environmental impact.
Will utilise proxy variables to handle data unavailability,
data insufficiency and the social valuation of data without
a market economic value.
Will provide guidance for an investment programme to
stimulate export development.
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Although the GOB has made initial steps towards
describing its national circumstance as it relates to
EGS we are not yet in the position to participate as
actively as we would wish in the ongoing negotiations
We believe that technical assistance would be
necessary to take the process from its current
inception stage to a stage where we can contribute in
a more meaningful way in the negotiations.
Some areas for focus include:
◦ The trade impacts of MEAs
◦ Means of support for SMEs
◦ Sharing of experience with other developing countries in a
similar position
Amrikha D. Singh
Environmental Officer
Ministry of the Environment,
Water Resources and Drainage
Tel: 246-467-5704
Fax:246-437-8859
Email: [email protected]