Bangladesh - EAST-WEST UNIVERSITY

• Market Access Issues: EU - Bangladesh Trade Regime
  A Case Study on Market Access: Myths and Realities - Full Report
  The research focuses on the major export sectors: leather and leather goods, knitwear, processed shrimp and pharmaceuticals. The aim is to understand the market access issue by using micro- or firm-level information in order to determine the practical barriers to trade for producers in Bangladesh. The study ranks the market access issues for SME exporters from Bangladesh to suggest policy changes in future rounds of negotiation to provide better prospects for expanding trade from Bangladesh to the North.

Bangladesh - IUCN

• Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Barriers to Trade and its Impact on the Environment: The Case of Shrimp Farming in Bangladesh - Summary
  Bangladesh (IUCN, North-South University): This study examines the shrimp industry in Bangladesh, focusing in particular on the effects of the standardization of production and processing methods resulting from sanitary and phyto-sanitary agreements. The production of shrimp has exploded in recent years, and it has become an important source of foreign exchange. Yet, it suffers from significant production inefficiencies, and is exposed to social and environmental risks. Standardized production and processing methods have proven hard to impose on small shrimp farms. Capacity building for shrimp farmers is required, to make them aware of the impact of chemicals and the risks of the shrimp business. The report concludes that a multi-stakeholder process is necessary to build trust among farmers and processors, to make them aware of their responsibilities and to address the high commissions taken by middlemen.

China - CAITEC

• Green Box Support Measures Under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture and Chinese Agricultural Sustainable Development - Summary
  China (CAITEC): This study examines the Chinese position relative to the ongoing negotiations on the Agreement on Agriculture and addresses the challenges of sustainable development in agriculture arising from structural changes generated from markets opening under the current international framework. The paper states the goal of agro-policy should be diverted from merely seeking quantity, as in the past, to more diversified and balanced development, taking as priority environmental protection, income growth for local farmers, and enhancement of product quality. The paper suggests the role of Green Box measures and WTO disciplines on agricultural support needs to be reformed to incorporate more mechanisms that support sustainable agriculture in developing countries and minimize the trade distorting effects that harm the agriculture and rural community of the developing countries.

China - PRCEE

• Trade and Sustainable Development in China - Full Report
  This study looks at three cases of trade and sustainable development linkages in China. The first is the environmental effects of trade in leather products. The second is the introduction of regulations in China's export markets to address the environmental problems of textile dyes. The third is the potential markets for Chinese-produced organic foods. The study makes recommendations in all three areas.

India - CUTS

• The Marine Seafood Export Supply Chain in India: Current State and Influence of Import Requirements - Full Report
  The study looks at the seafood export sector in India, analyzing it from small-scale producers up through the value chain to final exporters. It analyzes how some parts of the chain face difficulties in complying with standards set by major export markets, and identifies the sustainability implications. It finishes with a number of recommendations for action to increase the welfare of the poorest in the chain, improve compliance with standards and foster environmental sustainability.

Nepal - SAWTEE

• Market Access Barriers to Select Nepalese Agricultural Exports - Full Report
  The study looks into the key barriers faced by Nepalese agricultural exporters despite accession to the WTO, and suggests ways in which exports could be enhanced while attempting to minimize such barriers. The study recommends that the policy-makers as well as trade negotiators of Nepal need to differentiate between regional negotiations, in which they should focus on increased market access, and multilateral negotiations, where deep commitments would mean preference erosion for Nepal.

Pakistan - SDPI

• Compliance with International Standards in the Marine Fisheries Sector: A Supply Chain Analysis from Pakistan - Full Report
  A case study of coastal fisheries in Pakistan highlights difficulties faced in complying with foreign harvesting and processing standards. The study undertakes a supply chain analysis in the marine fisheries sector and looks at two links in this chain, namely compliance with international standards in the harvesting and processing stages. The analysis is driven by two concerns. First, failure to comply can adversely affect national exports. Second, the livelihoods of coastal fishing communities are at risk.

• The Costs and Benefits of Compliance with International Environmental Standards - Full Report - Summary
  The research quantifies the micro level costs and benefits associated with compliance with international environmental standards in the textile and leather sectors, assesses the role of the public and private sectors in implementing pollution mitigation measures and identifies existing gaps. The analysis confirms the win-win premise that both efficiency and environmental gains result from compliance with international environmental standards. A combination of importer specifications and efficiency gains ensure compliance within the universe of exporters. At the same time, certain grey areas relating to transparency and accountability need to be explored further.

• Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Costs Associated with Cloth and Leather Exports from Pakistan - Full Report
  This study looks at two key export industries in Pakistan: the leather industry and the cotton and textiles industry. It estimates the environmental impacts of trade liberalization along the lines laid out in the Uruguay Round's Agreement on Agriculture, focusing on increases in production to fill expanded quotas. The projected increases in pollution, assuming current technologies, are significant. It also estimates the costs in both sectors of adopting clean technologies, and finds these to be in most cases quite low.

Workshop Papers and Reports

• Proceedings of the TKN Phase I Pakistan Workshop

• Balancing Trade and Environment Needs - Singapore's Experience
  This paper describes Singapore's experience in addressing the trade-environment link. It focuses on the proactive measures taken in response to greening of export market demand, and win-win measures that made Singaporean industry more competitive and more environmentally friendly.

• Environmental Impact of Cotton Production and Trade
  The purpose of this paper is to explore prospects and mechanisms for a transition to sustainable production of cotton and cotton products in Pakistan (and more generally in the South), and the effect of international trade on such prospects. The analysis looks at the differing capacities for change in the different sections of the cotton commodity chain, and explores the policy implications.

• Promoting Sustainable Trade: The Case of Environmental Requirements
  This paper looks at India's experience with environmental requirements in export markets. It surveys the problems Indian industry has encountered with such requirements, and makes recommendations for preventing such difficulties in the future.

• Forthcoming Trade Negotiations: Identifying Pakistan's Interests (A paper prepared for the Pakistan Mission in Geneva)
  This paper reviews Pakistan's negotiating position heading into the WTO's Third Ministerial Conference in December 1999. It argues that Pakistan's negotiating stance (and that of many developing countries) is ineffective because it is reactive, and looks at the environment-trade relationship as a concrete example of this problem.

Other Related Research

• Market Access for the Least Developed Countries: Where Are the Obstacles?
  This OECD study is a background paper on trade in developing countries, with some mention of the Uruguay Round and its impacts on developing country trade. It looks at the main characteristics and structure of trade in developing countries, from a Northern perspective.

Singapore - SIIA

• Commodity Income Management: Selected Southeast Asian Economies
  Hank Lim, Lim Tai Wei - Singapore Institute for International Affairs, 2007
  Commodity price volatility has been tremendously problematic in the past. When revenues are high they tend to distort fiscal responsibility and encourage corruption. When revenues slump they slash government revenues, drive unemployment, increase national debt, and undermine health and education spending. This is not a new problem. The international community and domestic governments have tried many different ways to stabilize prices: quota systems, commodity agreements, marketing boards, compensatory funds and price hedging on futures markets. Few, if any, of these mechanisms have been entirely successful.

  In Southeast Asia, as in other developing regions, this problem is exacerbated by the fact that there are high levels of economic reliance on commodities, and that the price and income associated with these goods tend to be very sensitive to market fluctuations. To address these challenges, each country must respond with unique policies for managing and planning the exploitation and sale of their specific commodities. One of a series of seven case studies that examines national responses to the commodity price problem, this paper focuses on the commodities considered most crucial to two economies in the ASEAN region: coffee in Vietnam and palm oil in Malaysia.

Vietnam - IUCN/MOFI

• Expanding Shrimp Aquaculture on Sandy Land in Vietnam - Full Report
  This study looks at the potential for environmentally-friendly economic improvement in poor areas of Vietnam through sandy land shrimp aquaculture. It examines the potential environmental and economic impacts of the technology, the export market and its potential as a tool for achieving sustainable development.

Vietnam - MOSTE

• Trade and Sustainable Development in Vietnam - Full Report
  The Vietnam study was broader than that conducted in the other partner countries. The report covers trade and environment linkages at a general level, and also looks at agriculture and forestry, industrial products, eco-labelling and environmental management system certification. It also looks briefly at two case studies: the coffee sector, and the Cau Tree export processing company.

Workshop Papers and Reports

• Proceedings of the TKN Phase I Vietnam Workshop
  Report of the trade and environment workshop held in Hanoi, April 9-10, 1999.

• Trade in Domestically Prohibited Goods
  This paper looks at the export of domestically prohibited goods—chemicals (including pesticides and fertilizers), hazardous wastes, pharmaceuticals and consumer products—and the challenges it poses for sustainable development. It surveys the complex web of instruments for addressing those challenges, including information exchange mechanisms, voluntary agreements, binding international agreements and agreements under negotiation.