ABSTRACT
In the two decades since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, trade concerns have infiltrated multilateral environmental negotiations both as high-profile, contentious issues of debate and as a general subtext to ongoing discussions. In this chapter, we trace the evolution of the trade and environment debate and its increasing specialization under various multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We also examine the influence of linkages and substantive overlap between MEAs and international trade rules under the World Trade Organization (WTO).
