The Rationale
   The Problem
   Some Examples
A Way Forward    
WWF logo 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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