Introduction
For some years now, there has been a concern about the relationship between forestry and the environment, mainly because public opinion and policy makers are more aware of the importance of the benefits that forests provide and that These are disappearing or in serious danger, but in the same way, many forestry activities are considered to be or may be harmful to the environment.
The negative effects of forestry activities on the environment are manifested on two different levels. First, at the forest level, such as the destruction or damage caused by poorly planned and executed silvicultural interventions or by overexploitation and its possible repercussions on biological diversity, local communities, global climate change, among others. Secondly, it is necessary to mention the effects derived from transport, processing and consumption, including also the pollution produced by processing factories, from the use of polluting materials in the production of forest products, from energy needs for processing., from excessive or uncontrolled consumption, and from waste disposal problems.
Concern about these negative effects has manifested itself both directly and indirectly in trade, particularly in international trade, since many of these problems take on a more important meaning when the interests and activities of one country affect those of another, becoming issues of great complication with respect to which there are different opinions and interests. This is a two-way process, that is, in the sense that international trade affects the environment and environmental protection measures affect trade and vice versa.
Development
The links between trade and the environment are numerous and complex, and there are widely differing views on them. At one extreme are those who think that the pressure generated by the markets, mainly due to excessive consumption, is one of the important causes of the damage suffered by forests or even their disappearance. On the other hand is the view that international trade in forest products has no impact on the environment and therefore should not attract the attention of those trying to find solutions to environmental problems.
Trade harms the environment but is not the main cause of environmental problems. It is for this reason that it is not among the main causes of deforestation of the world's forests, which are demographic pressure, poverty and problems related to land tenure. Trade measures directly affect the flow of products to international trade and their prices, but the most serious environmental problems are not caused by the cross-border movement of products, since the modification of international trade flows hardly influences problems.
It cannot be denied that business policies and practices have consequences on the environment, consequences that can be positive and negative and that can manifest themselves in any of the intermediate stages between the forests and the final consumer: in the forest, during the phase processing, in the distribution of raw materials and products and even after consumption.
Many of the problems directly related to trade and business practices are applicable to market malfunction. On many occasions the market cannot correctly assess all the benefits and integrate the costs of environmental protection, the cause of this fact must be found in the distortions of the policies and in the lack of conditions that allow the producers take into account, when making decisions, the costs of sustainable use of resources and their impact on other goods and services provided by forests. To overcome these deficiencies, it is necessary to integrate costs, either by establishing regulations and systems to ensure compliance with the standards,or through market-based economic instruments. In this regard, many governments have implemented a comprehensive set of measures and regulations relating to air quality, atmospheric conditions, water, waste management and toxic chemicals, as well as the conservation of endangered species. These measures are both national and global in nature. Among the global initiatives of particular significance for trade in forest products, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) stands out.the management of waste and toxic chemicals, as well as the conservation of endangered species. These measures are both national and global in nature. Among the global initiatives of particular significance for trade in forest products, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) stands out.the management of waste and toxic chemicals, as well as the conservation of endangered species. These measures are both national and global in nature. Among the global initiatives of particular significance for trade in forest products, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) stands out.
In each of the initiatives different techniques can be adopted and in some cases several of them are applied at the same time, which increases their effects, these initiatives range from taxes and subsidies to licenses, prohibitions and various types of sanctions or incentives that They can be applied in any of the phases of the production and consumption processes. Each of these measures affects trade in different ways, either directly or indirectly. The environmental regulations that most frequently affect international trade are those that prohibit imports of products or those that limit their sale and export. It may be regulations on the production or transformation system or standards for products, which refer to their characteristics.It is very difficult to pinpoint the trade consequences of many of these measures, particularly since environmental regulation has a major influence on competition. These regulations generally require measures that increase costs or hinder trade. It can be very difficult to establish the extent to which the competitive disadvantages faced by producers stem from environmental protection measures.It can be very difficult to establish the extent to which the competitive disadvantages faced by producers stem from environmental protection measures.It can be very difficult to establish the extent to which the competitive disadvantages faced by producers stem from environmental protection measures.
Many of these measures have a significant impact on trade and in many cases can be viewed as barriers to trade that violate internationally agreed trade rules aimed at liberalizing world trade in forest products. A question of great importance is whether the measures that are taken to protect the environment and that are established as barriers to trade are legitimate in the context of internationally agreed trade rules, such as those of the GATT, known today as the WTO. The important relationship between environmental issues and international trade has led the WTO to pay great attention to this issue, in which it continues to be interested in this issue through its Committee on Trade and Environment,the work program of that Committee is an indication of some of the international issues raised with respect to trade and the environment.
Aspects where trade in forest products is affected by decisions taken to protect the environment or where trade is seen as a means of tackling environmental problems are discussed below.
Disposal of waste paper poses an increasingly important problem for many countries, both because of its cost and because of the material difficulty of disposing of an increasing volume of waste. This situation has led to a call for increased recycling and reuse of waste paper (which accounts for approximately one third of solid waste in industrialized countries). The fact that the collection, sorting and recycling of waste paper carries a cost that can reduce profitability makes it an unattractive activity for the private sector and has forced governments to establish regulations or economic incentives.
One of the measures taken has been to promote the use of waste paper in the manufacture of newsprint and cardboard. In some countries, industry associations have implemented voluntary measures, and in others local and national policies have been formulated that mandate the use of a certain volume of recycled paper.
These measures have benefited the environment by reducing the accumulation of solid waste and, under certain conditions, can also be attractive from an economic point of view. That is why recycling is a measure that can bring economic advantages to the trade balance and to the country's industry.
On a global scale, recycled paper contributes a significant proportion of the fiber required for the production of paper, which is in the process of expansion. Since 1980, the increase in world consumption of waste paper has been estimated at almost 5.3 per cent per year and that of exports at almost 9 per cent per year. The main importers of waste paper include the Chinese province of Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Japan, and the most important exporters are the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Hong Kong and Belgium.
But despite their positive effects, policies to promote waste paper recycling can also pose unforeseen difficulties and problems. They can cause other environmental impacts, such as affecting the structure of trade, alter the economy of various products, modify the location of industries and influence relative levels of consumption.
Therefore, recycling policies have a significant influence on companies, the economy as a whole and, indirectly, the environment, both positively and negatively. It is necessary to make two general remarks. First, the controls established for the protection of the environment carry costs, both direct and indirect. Second, in the absence of an analysis of the total positive and negative, direct and indirect effects, only fragmentary data are available on the net effect of the provisions adopted for ecological reasons, it is possible that instead of solving an ecological problem they simply modify it.
Consequently, mandatory product-related measures have important and complex repercussions: they can alleviate an ecological problem, increase production costs, modify production sites, alter market relations, and so on. Too often, policies adopted to solve ecological problems, while directly benefiting the environment, do not fully take into account the costs of the new regulations in relation to the expected benefits and do not assess how they may affect forest resources.
Closely related to the issue of waste paper recovery is that of expanding the use of materials both by reusing them and by transforming them into other products. Nowadays, there are more and more regulations relating to packaging, which specify the type of material to be used for packaging, the objectives for reuse and recycling and the recovery systems to be adopted.
In many Western European countries national, regional and municipal governments have enacted legislation on packaging materials: in Germany and Austria there are provisions aimed at preventing waste from being generated in the packaging process, in Belgium there is a highly controversial eco-tax, in France an ecological packaging law and in the United Kingdom an environmental protection law. In all this legislation there are aspects related to the recovery and recycling of packaging waste. Similarly, in Japan it encourages the recycling not only of paper, but also of waste from logging and collapsed houses. A new product has been developed that is manufactured with small logs and residues from extraction sites and old built sites,material that if not used in this way would be lost. Attempts are being made to increase the number of times plywood sheets can be used for formwork before being discarded and the formwork material used is also being used to manufacture particle board.
As in recycling, regulations on packaging materials can influence competitiveness, particularly from more distant foreign suppliers. Imports can be adversely affected in various ways, creating obstacles that disrupt trade. Overseas suppliers may be forced to meet different types of requirements in different markets, and simply staying informed about regulations and requirements can be a major obstacle. This is especially true with regard to regulations concerning the recovery of packaging and transport material and requirements such as warehousing and replenishment systems. Also,the great remoteness of overseas suppliers from the markets can make the cost of returning packaging material, such as cargo trays, prohibitive.
Another aspect is that of regulations and technical standards, many of which respond to ecological motivations, some refer to the physical characteristics of the products and the materials used in their manufacture and others to the production process. Regarding environmental issues, mention should be made of those relating to the protection of animals and plants against pests and diseases; issues relating to the health and safety of human beings; and maintaining the quality of air, water, and land.
Rules and regulations can require considerable adjustment and readjustment of trade relations, differences between countries can alter the pattern of trade if incentives change relative costs and comparative advantages. If applied fairly, these regulations serve to tackle major ecological problems, but are sometimes disguised obstacles to trade aimed at protecting domestic producers from competition from abroad.
Serious awareness of these problems in recent years has led forest industries in many countries to admit their responsibility and respond positively, and even decisively, spontaneously preparing and passing codes of good practice that make legislation unnecessary. Furthermore, many countries have enacted stringent laws and regulations to reduce water, air and land pollution caused by processing factories. Forest products processing plants, particularly pulp and paper plants, have received a lot of attention. The solutions to this direct contamination problem are relatively straightforward: it is about ensuring that all costs are covered and that the user pays principle is applied.
Factories face higher costs, and possibly higher standards, in some countries than in others, influencing competition. The fear that assails producers in countries where there are strict regulations on the environment is that of having to face unfair competition from producers in other countries with less strict regulations and, therefore, lower costs.. This has led to attempts to get other countries to adopt equivalent standards establishing restrictive controls on imports, as a result this type of control often raises doubts or controversies.
Other regulations of an ecological nature that have important consequences for trade are the increasing restrictions on the trade of wood panels in which formaldehyde glues are used, a product that poses risks to human health; regulations that prohibit or regulate certain wood preservation processes and materials; and the control of production methods, for example in pulp bleaching, in which there have been repeated attempts to encourage or force companies to substitute chlorine, which produces highly toxic by-products, with other more respectful bleaches with the environment.
A final aspect closely related to trade and the environment and which is receiving a great deal of attention is the certification of forest products, which aims to link international trade with the sustainable management of forest resources, encouraging users to buy only products made with wood from sustainably managed forests. Although so far more emphasis has been given to wood and wood products, the certification system has started to apply to pulp and paper as well, and the possibility of applying it to non-wood forest products has been suggested as well.
Conclusions
It follows from all of the above that the trade-environment relationship of forest products, particularly at the international level, is a complex, multi-faceted issue. Furthermore, there is no doubt that there is an interaction between trade and the environment.
Although trade is not a major cause of environmental problems, policies that affect trade can have a significant impact in some areas. If properly prepared they can have beneficial effects on the environment. However, most environmental problems are multi-dimensional and attempting to solve them only through commercial measures can have unforeseen and often negative consequences in other respects. Therefore, where trade is seen as a means of tackling environmental problems, it is necessary to fully understand all the dimensions of the problem and adjust trade and environmental policies.
