What is the Doha mandate on environment and sustainable development?
Issues relating to sustainable development, trade and the environment have been discussed in the GATT and in the WTO for many years. At the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the WTO at Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, Ministers agreed to launch negotiations on certain (limited) aspects of the trade and environment linkage. The negotiating mandate on environment is rather narrowly defined in the Doha Ministerial Declaration. It is confined to clarifying the relationship between the WTO rules and specific trade obligations prescribed by the MEAs, covers information exchange between WTO committees and MEA secretariats and the liberalisation of trade in environmental goods and services. More details on the individual aspects of negotiations relating to trade, environment and sustainable development in the Doha mandate ensues. The Preamble – Para 6 Notably, there is recognition of the linkages of trade and the environment almost throughout the Doha Declaration. The Preamble (Paragraph 6), make
