The environment and NAFTA : understanding and implementing the new continental law

Two internationally-known experts discuss both law and policy as they examine the environmental implications of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the related Noth American Agreement on Envirnmental Cooperation (NAAEC). Pierre Marc Johnson and Andre Beaulieu consider the context in which those implications were brought to the negotiating table, the legal mechanism established to address them, and the original trilateral institution set up to maintain a continent-wide level of environmental cooperation. Topics discussed include: the provisions of NAFTA that affect environmental policies and their implementation the origins of the NAAEC and the legal regime it creates for improving environmental management in North America preliminary conclusions on the environmental record of NAFTA/NAAEC suggestions on how to ensure that the new institutions and procedures translate into concrete environmental gains The authors explain how NAFTA and its interaction with NAAEC might take place and how that will affect trade policy and practices, environmental protection efforts, and the relationships between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In addition, they consider the environmental features of NAFTA as part of the "social agenda" of trade--the environmental, labor, and broad human rights issues that are coming to play an increasing role in the development of international agreements. The manner in which NAFTA parties have confronted that challenge provides valuable insight into the future of regional and international cooperation.Also included in the volume are appendices that provide the complete text of the NAAEC along with selected provisions of NAFTA that relate to the environment.

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In one of the first titles that presents NAFTA and the environmental side accords since NAFTA was signed, Johnson and Beaulieu provide a cogent analysis of the treaty and the environmental side agreements. They cover the existing legal institutions that bear on international trade as well as existing trade barriers outlined within NAFTA. An important contribution to the discussion is their attention to the governing "architecture" regarding which international organizations play a role. As with most international law, NAFTA environment agreements are difficult to enforce. Yet thorough coverage is provided concerning trade relations among Mexico, Canada, and the US, and on selected environmental dispute resolution processes in reconciling trade barrier disagreements. The authors warn that much empirical evidence of NAFTA's effect on the environment is either unavailable or too new to be of much use at this point. Based on their analysis, many of the touted environmental threats are overblown. The appendix covers major sections of NAFTA that are referred to throughout the text. This work goes further than the introductory work Trade and the Environment: Law, Economics and Policy, ed. by D. Zaelke, P. Orbuch, and R.F. Housman (1993), by focusing on NAFTA instead. Graduate students; faculty. J. G. Edgens Michigan State University

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