ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses what would be involved in evaluating the environmental effects of agricultural trade liberalization. It reviews the main concerns of environmental groups as they relate to agriculture. The chapter looks briefly at what has been written already about the global environmental effects of decreasing agricultural support prices, before discussing ways to improve our quantitative knowledge of those effects and their economic significance. Only the more extreme environmentalists claim that international trade itself is a significant contributor to environmental degradation. With respect to changes in the mix and international location of production that would accompany agricultural trade liberalization, environmentalists are concerned in at least two ways. Those engaged in the economic modeling of agricultural trade liberalization were well aware of the considerable complexities involved in performing that task empirically, even before the Uruguay Round neared its conclusion.
