A Way Forward
Doing something about PPMs will first require examining how, in specific cases in different countries, the wrong PPMs both
undercut development prospects and damage the environment. It will require working at all levels local, national and
international and in far more fora than just the WTO. Again, budding investment agreements are a case in point. National
governments and industry both have a responsibility to act on PPMs, a responsibility that in many cases they will have to be
held to by NGOs. NGOs themselves can act on PPMs, as exemplified by some of the social and environmental labelling schemes
that have emerged recently.
In this process of examination, NGOs might wish to prioritize discussions about North-South charged PPM issues, such as the
forthcoming WTO dispute on shrimps and turtles. These are the kind of disputes that can wreak havoc on both NGO and
government cooperation. They are often also those which have the most negative impacts on prospects for sustainable
development.
Moving beyond the examination stage on PPMs will require not only working on sustainable alternatives, but also on
strengthening the safeguards against trade protectionism masked by environmental or social concerns. It will require working
on securing the finance and technology for all countries to have the means to address unsustainable PPMs. And it will require
that the needs and concerns of the poorer sectors of society are also met by the solutions to PPM problems. In essence it
will be about defining how PPM problems can be solved in the interests of people all over the world. This will require having
no preconceptions about the instruments necessary to solve the problem, but rather of bearing in mind the ultimate objective
of finding the best sustainable development solutions. This ability to select and/or construct the right policy tools has
been one of the key strengths of NGOs in the past.
While discussion among NGOs here in Singapore could provide a useful starting point, a later meeting organized for this
specific purpose, with an agreed agenda, may be needed to make substantial advances. Such a meeting might be organized at the
fifth meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD V, in April next year) or one of the other Earth Summit
follow-up events to come in 1997. It would at least be worth discussing that possibility here in Singapore.
Experience gained by NGOs in the run-up to Rio and other fora has amply demonstrated how their effectiveness can be enhanced
by NGOs working together for truly common aims. It would probably be wise to do this again now on PPMs, if we are not to be
scattered before the wave of socially and environmentally destructive PPMs that looms behind economic globalization.
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