ABSTRACT
In 1991, the trade and environment agenda burst upon the international scene, catching the trade community unawares and the environmental community unprepared. It is surprising that it took so long for this issue to emerge. The potential for overlaps between international environmental regimes and trade regimes are many. The global trade regime was constructed to meet the needs of trade and industry. The concerns of commodity producers, however, were largely left out of the regime. Many countries counted on increased institutional strength of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to curb the ability of the more powerful members to act unilaterally. These issues, as much as the need to make agriculture and trade-related intellectual property rights part of the trade regime, were the central concerns of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, which led to the creation of the World Trade Organization.
