The EU, US and Japan provide billions of dollars in farm subsidies classed as 'green box' at the World Trade Organization, on the basis that these payments have little or no effect on trade or production. However, a new book from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development now shows how green box subsidies do in fact distort trade, affect developing country farmers and can also harm the environment.
“Agricultural Subsidies in the WTO Green Box: Ensuring Coherence with Sustainable Development Goals”, published by Cambridge University Press, shines a spotlight on an area of trade and agricultural policy that has so far remained unexplored – but one with massive implications for farmers, consumers and taxpayers around the world.
As efficient agricultural exporters press WTO members to reduce their trade-distorting 'amber box' and 'blue box' support, developed countries' green box spending has increased – a trend widely expected to continue. While some types of green box payments probably have only a minor effect on production and trade, others have a significant impact.
According to countries' latest official reports to the WTO, the US provided $76 billion in green box payments in 2007 – over nine-tenths of its total spending – while the EU notified €48 billion ($91 billion) in 2005 , or around half of all support provided by the bloc. In the case of the EU, a large and growing share of green box spending was on decoupled income support, which the book shows can have a particularly significant impact on production and trade.
The book is the first ever attempt to look at green box support from a 'sustainable development' viewpoint, examining how payments affect economic, social and environmental progress in both the developed and developing world.
Ambassador Rubens Ricupero, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, has said: “this book constitutes a long-awaited and valuable contribution to clarifying what has become the core of agricultural negotiations: the fear that abusive migration toward so-called green-box subsidies might render meaningless any apparent progress in reduction of the more obvious distorting modalities.”
“Agricultural Subsidies in the WTO Green Box: Ensuring Coherence with Sustainable Development Goals”, eds. Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Christophe Bellmann and Jonathan Hepburn, is published by Cambridge University Press (2009):
•For a more detailed press release please click here
•To attend the book launch on 2 December, please visit: http://ictsd.org/i/events/dialogues/61948/
•To download an 'information note' summarising some of the themes addressed in the book, please visit: http://ictsd.net/i/publications/56284/
Development / Accra / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com
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