How the GATT agreement on agriculture shifted pollution from its richer to poorer members: Implications for sustainability mandates of trade agreements

Abstract

This paper evaluates the impact of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade's Agreement on Agriculture (GATT AA) on outcomes outlined as its sustainability goals. They include adopting and sustaining agricultural practices to lower fertilizer pollution from nitrogen and phosphate, as well as to lower CO₂ levels from vegetal and animal production. This study evaluates if these goals were met for those nations that joined the GATT AA. Applying an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework, we examine the change in levels of the specific pollutants specified in the GATT AA's Application of Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) provision for 101 countries for the time frame pre- and post- joining the GATT AA. The results suggest that wealthy GATT AA member nations were able to lower their integrated agrarian toxicity relatively more and mainly through increasing the imports of foodstuffs. The implication is that trade liberalization may have allowed richer nations to lower their pollution levels by importing rather than producing certain crops associated with relatively more toxic fertilization. Further investigation can analyze such findings in the context of changing assumptions of EKC and Ecologically Unequal Exchange theories.