Free Trade
Relevance
Developing countries are often blamed for many of the world's environmental problems. These countries are usually called pollution havens, which are geographical areas with little or no environmental regulations. Developing countries have access to a lot of the resources that developed countries need to expand their capitalist economies, making developed countries responsible for the environmental degradation of the Third World. Many economists say that free trade is the reason for this phenomenon and others say that without free trade production efficiency would decrease. With resource scarcity becoming increasingly prevalent, efficiency is of the utmost importance.
Optimist
Every country has an area of production they specialize in or a common resource they have monopolized. Free trade makes use of every country’s expertise which insures that all products are created as efficiently as possible. If free trade were discontinued, each country would have to sustain itself and the economy would suffer. With free trade in place, economic growth is encouraged and the government can increase taxes to help improve the global environmental condition.
Since free trade encourages sharing of ideas, it can help speed up development of new technologies and sustainable methods of production to improve the economy even further. This cycle of improvement benefits all countries involved and can enable otherwise economically inactive countries to earn a profit and improve the environment. Along with this sharing of ideas, industries like clean power generation and renewable energy should be excluded from import duties. "Maximising exchange and trade in green technology is what will ultimately drive emissions down altogether," said EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
Pessimist
Since free trade is a global phenomenon it affects all countries differently, but third-world countries tend to be negatively impacted. Many developing countries depend on developed countries to keep their economies going and are forced to follow regulations and taxes that developed countries put in place. It is common for a country to become so busy creating goods to export, that they start to lose governmental control of their own country.
Developed countries, such as the United States and Australia, that dominate global trade tend to relocate their energy-intensive industries to countries with less environmental restrictions. In order to remain competitive with the rest of the global market, wealthy countries have to produce goods in the cheapest locations possible. Developing countries tend to have the least regulation and often become pollution havens. Developing countries do not have the funds to deal with the affects of this increased pollution so the environment suffers.
The most recent controversy over free trade has to do with agricultural markets. Increased demand, unfavourable weather, export restrictions, commodity market speculators, increased land use for biofuels, particularly in the U.S., and rising energy costs have all caused a rise in food prices. According to the World Bank, food prices have risen by 83% in three years. Developing countries are starting to request food aid because they can no longer afford certain foods. The steeply rising prices have created a global crisis and the first step to solving is to help farmers in developing countries grow more crops. A country can not survive when it depends solely on free trade, it has to have some internal structure and stability. "Opening national markets to international competition...can lead to long term negative effects on poverty alleviation, food security and the environment without basic national institutions and infrastructure being in place," said a report from a United Nations and World Bank sponsored group.
References
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL15330294
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080425/ap_on_re_eu/un_food_crisis
Population | CO2 Emission | Fossil Fuel Reserves | Renewable Energy | Free Trade | Agriculture
