BRUSSELS. Oct 9: The world Trade Organisation's (WTO) new liberalisation attempts threaten international actions to protect the environment the world wide fund for nature (WWF) warned here recently, reports IPS.

The group urged a WTO ministerial meeting to be held next month in Seattle (United States) to allow nations to impose "those sensible and reasonable trade restrictions needed to implement international treaties to protect the environment," said WWF official Mikel Insausti.

"If a trade restriction is introduced in order to implement (an) international environmental agreement, then it should not be open to challenge under

WTO rules.” he said.

"International treaties to protect our global environment are vulnerable to challenge under WTO rules if they contain trade clauses." Added Charles Arden-Clarke, head of WWFs Trade and Investment Unit.

"The fear of legal challenges is holding back the development of new International treaties to ’tackle world-wide environmental, problems," he added. At least nine existing multilateral environmental agreements include trade measures.

Because of fears of a challenge under WTO rules, the Persistent Organic Pollutants Agreement to prevent toxic chemical pollution is being held up. Arden-Clarke said.

According to him. the Biosafety Protocol on trade in genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) has been seriously weakened and delayed "by a small group of governments using WTO Rules to undermine a strong agreement."

At their ministerial meeting in Seattle, WTO’s 135 member countries will launch a new round of negotiations to further liberalise trade.

Ill-equipped to face the complexities of the talks, developing countries remain skeptical about the outcome. A ministerial meeting of the group of 77 (comprising 130 developing countries and China) agreed last month in Marrakesh (Morocco) to coordinate their participation in order to

maximize human resources.

At the previous trade talks held under the banner of WTO's predecessor — the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) — most developing countries could not cope with the-armies of experts and diplomats displayed by their industrialised counterparts in the talks.

The WTO system has now evolved to the stage where it is pursuing trade liberalisation as an end to itself, leaving environmental and social values behind." the WWF environmentalists said.

"Because until now it has been mainly the rich nations that have benefited from trade liberalisation." the non-governmental organisation added.