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The MFTZ and the Environment According to the Barcelona Declaration, the founding document of the Euro-Med Partnership, one of the Partnership's primary goals is to promote "sustainable and balanced economic and social development." Without doubt, the regional integration envisaged under the Euro-Med Partnership, especially the liberalization of EU-Mediterranean trade, will have far reaching environmental and social impacts. The Relationship between Trade and Environment in the Mediterranean Trade and environmental protection are mutually dependent in the long-run, and so, meaningful progress in one field necessitates coordination with the other. Failure to do so often leads to ineffective and/or conflicting policies, environmental damage, and public protest. This is especially the case in situations, such as the Euro-Med region, in which the economic integration is taking place between nations with very different levels of economic development, national infrastructure, consumption patterns, and natural resource bases. If no precautions are taken to protect the environment in light of the removal of trade barriers, however, the overall repercussions of the MFTZ process for the environment are likely to be negative. Probable negative environmental outcomes of the MFTZ, should environmental considerations not be introduced into the policies, expected as a result of the increase in economic activity include:
gain and preservation of the integrity of their natural resources. The environmental quality of the Mediterranean Sea itself, already a matter of concern, could be especially at risk in the event of the establishment of an MFTZ. Industrial development and increased trade flows arising out of such a free-trade area would mean increased industrial effluent and atmospheric discharges, agricultural runoff, and polluted river outflows. It would also entail additional pollution from an increase in shipping and an increased risk of accidents during transport of goods. The Euro-Med partnership, and the MFTZ in particular, need not be detrimental to the environment. Indeed, in the Barcelona Declaration itself, potential environmental benefits that can be derived are emphasized, such as promotion of environmentally-friendly agriculture, renewable energy, secure and clean water sources, and transfer of technologies, including environmental technology. While such objectives are laudable, however, commitments to specific target objectives are lacking. Thus, the calls for environmentally friendly development, are open to critique for being merely token references. The Environment under the Current Euro-Med Process In order to avoid environmental damage due to an MFTZ and capitalize on potential environmental opportunities, however, a regulatory framework needs to be in place and functional before going ahead with complete removal of trade barriers. The Euro-Med countries have committed under Agenda 21 signed at the Rio Earth Summit and under several other international accords, to integrate environmental concerns into other policy frameworks, including trade. However, the political will to actually do so in the Euro-Med process has yet to be demonstrated. Indeed, indicators to date are far from encouraging. At the Euro-Med meeting of Environment Ministers held in November, 1997, 11 of the 27 Ministers did not even attend. Of even more alarm to environmentalists is the fact that most of the bilateral association agreements between the EU and various Mediterranean partners - the agreements which are to form the basis of the multilateral MFTZ - have no environmental provisions incorporated in them at all. Moreover, those agreements that do mention the environment, do so in a token manner without stipulating any specific obligations on the part of the contracting parties. Indeed, several interests are against making any such linkages, including various industrial lobbies which fear higher production costs and/or loss of governmental support. At a national level, some government representatives, especially from developing countries, have expressed reluctance to include environmental concerns in trade negotiations. They fear that environmental issues will be abused by the industrialized nations, and used as yet another method of preventing competition with their domestic industries, so called "green protectionism." While such fears of misuse are legitimate, the environmental community argues that they should not be used to prevent implementation of environmental safeguards. Moreover, they emphasize areas of potential cooperation between environmental and trade interests, such as the removal of subsidies and quotas in the European Union designed to protect European farming interests which both encourage unsustainable farming and deny developing nations valuable markets. Cause for Concern: How the Environment has Fared under other FTZs Other regional trade agreements, especially those between trading partners at substantially different levels of socio-economic development, demonstrate that a number of environmental problems can develop, unless precautions are taken to avoid or minimize them in advance:
Environmental protection and sustainable development are mentioned in various forms of Euro-Med documentation and official statements. Actual support for various infrastructure projects can be seen primarily in many Partnership sponsored projects geared at providing improved infrastructure (e.g. water supply, waste treatment, etc.) projects in Mediterranean countries. Various professional forums have also been formed under the rubric of the Euro-Med Partnership which discuss goals such as promotion renewable energy, comprehensive water management, etc. While positive infrastructure projects such as those mentioned above are being promoted under the Euro-Med Partnership, unfortunately, so are many other development projects that will have a net negative impact on the environment. Despite the Partnership's stated goals of integrated resource management and sustainable development, many of the projects supported under the umbrella of regional development are leading simply to a net increase in resource use, including fossil fuel-based energy and scarce water. The most encouraging attempt at official incorporation of environmental concerns into the Euro-Med Partnership framework is the establishment of SMAP - Short and Medium-term Priority Action Programme for the environment - a project administered by the European Commission's DG XI (Directorate General responsible for the environment). The programme is designed to support regional environmental projects in line with a number of specific goals agreed upon by the member countries. Unfortunately, secured funding for environmental activities under SMAP is relatively in question. Already two years after the programme's initiation, no funds have yet been distributed. Moreover, the amount of funding being discussed for SMAP is quite small, meaning that only a limited number of types of activities can be supported. Conspicuously lacking from budget-lines dedicated for environmental issues, both in SMAP and in other Euro-Med budget lines, is specific funding for analysis of the environmental consequences of economic liberalization! Considering that the establishment of the Mediterranean Free Trade Zone is one of the three pillars of the Euro-Med partnership, this omission is especially egregious. The environmental NGO community has taken the lead in pushing for such actions as environmental impact assessments, minimum environmental standards, incorporation of environmental concerns into all policy areas, and increased transparency in the Euro-Med's economic integration process (see Activism). In April, 1999, in response to civil society demands, representatives of the European Commission indicated their consent to sponsoring a environmental assessment of the MFTZ. To date, however, no progress on this issue has been realized. Other independent intergovernmental regional forums, such as METAP - Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Programme (METAP), and the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development, an advisiory body established under the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) have initiated their own efforts in investigating trade-environment links under an MFTZ (see Activism). Work in this area within both of these institutions is still underway. In sum, at least for the time being, progress on economic liberalization under the Euro-Med Partnership is far out-pacing any actions to provide the necessary regulatory and financial framework necessary to prevent environmental damage. |
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