ABSTRACT
The link between trade and environment has been a prominent issue for most of the nineties. The number and scope of environmental concerns is growing rapidly and intensifying public interest in environmental issues. Increasing economic openness has led to concerns about possible detrimental effects on the environment. Expanded trading opportunities in natural resources and hazardous products and the possibility that trade liberalisation could significantly undercut domestic environmental policies through trade diversion have augmented fears about the environment. At the same time, pressures have mounted to use trade instruments to achieve environmental ends. There is an emerging consensus in the environmentalist community opposing free trade (Drake-Brockman and Anderson, 1994). While some economists see this as merely another excuse for protectionism, recent work has begun to investigate the theoretical and empirical relationships between international trade and environmental quality.
