Global Environment and Trade Study

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The Global Environment & Trade Study (GETS) was a non-profit research institute established in 1994 to study the complex linkages between international trade and environmental sustainability. [1] GETS supported numerous research projects on the legal, economic, and ecological aspects of trade and environment.

Contents

GETS was centered at Yale University. [2]

GETS also studied the expanding role of civil society in global governance.

In 2004, the GETS Board decided that a sufficient amount had been accomplished over the decade, and that it was time to terminate the project.

Major Accomplishments

GETS had four major accomplishments:

Board Members and Staff

The founders of GETS were: James Cameron, Steve Charnovitz, Daniel Esty, and Mark Ritchie. [6]

In 2000, Monica Araya Archived 2010-01-15 at the Wayback Machine joined the GETS Board and focused on environment, trade and investment issues in developing countries.

Some staff associated with GETS included Orin Kirshner, who served as Executive Director from 2001–2003, Beatrice Chaytor, Hari Osofsky, and John Wickham.

Institutional Participation and Collaboration

GETS had three major participating institutions—the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (located in London), [9] the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (located in Minneapolis), [10] and the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy (located in New Haven) . [11]

In addition, GETS collaborated with numerous research institutes in developed and developing countries.

Conferences

GETS held policy conferences or workshops in Cancun, Geneva, London, Miami, New York, Seattle, Tokyo, and Washington.

GETS also held a major Conference in Singapore in June 1996 co-sponsored with the National University of Singapore. At the end of that Conference, the co-chairs (Tommy Koh, Dan Esty, and James Cameron) issued a statement with several recommendations, [12] many of which were adopted by the WTO, other international organizations, and governments in subsequent years.

Funding

The major funders of GETS included: the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, the German-Marshall Fund, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Global Partnership/Japan Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Commentary

A retrospective on competitiveness and the Council's work was recently written by Martin Neil Baily and Robert Z. Lawrence. [13]

Publications

Principals and researchers supported by GETS produced dozens of books and articles on trade and the environment, and related topics during its ten years of operation. Among them were:

"Achieving Harmony in Trade and Environment," http://www.gets.org/pages/harmony/ Archived 2007-02-13 at the Wayback Machine .

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References

  1. Global Environment & Trade Study, 1995–1996 Biennial Report, p. 2.
  2. "Welcome | Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy".
  3. WTO | Environment - Negotiations on trade and environment
  4. David Palmeter & Petros C. Mavroidis, Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organization, Cambridge U. Press, 2d ed. 2004, p. 35.
  5. John H. Jackson, "Justice Feliciano and the WTO Environmental Cases: Laying the Foundations of a 'Constitutional Jurisprudence' with Implications for Developing Countries," in Steve Charnovitz, Debra P. Steger & Peter van den Bossche, Law in the Service of Human Dignity, Cambridge U. Press, 2005.
  6. </>1995–86 Biennial Report, ibid, pp. 6–7.
  7. "Home - REEEP - The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership". Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
  8. "Yale Law School | Faculty | Publications". Archived from the original on 2007-03-08. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
  9. Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development
  10. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
  11. Untitled Document
  12. 1995–96 Biennial Report, ibid., pp. 10–11.
  13. Martin Neil Baily and Robert Z. Lawrence, "Competitiveness and the Assessment of Trade Performance," in Michael Mussa (ed.), C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy (Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2006).