Environmental Law and Free Trade in the Americas

This July, the Dominican Republic-Central America-US Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) commemorated its tenth anniversary. The member states –the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic-- reaffirmed their shared commitment to promote sound environmental policies that ensure high levels of environmental protection while encouraging trade and investment that is in line with such polices. To its CAFTADR partners, the United States represents their most significant economic partner. Yet, many of these countries face similar challenges associated with the degradation of natural resources, the management of water resources, the enforcement of environmental laws, the illegal trade of wildlife, including marine resources, and the conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems that call for the promotion of regional initiatives that enhance national capacities to address these challenges. The discussants will focus on: What role CAFTA-DR’s environmental mandate has played in promoting best practices in the context of trade and investment in the treaty’s first decade. This program will provide a timely discussion as free trade agreements, such as the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, are facing hostility among the U.S. public today