| Mexico D.F., Ottawa, Washington, 15/06/2004 – Activities carried out under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation have brought clear environmental benefits to Canada, Mexico and the United States through the work of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), says an independent report released today.
The report, Ten Years of North American Environmental Cooperation, was written by a six-member committee of international experts appointed by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States. The Ten-Year Review and Assessment Committee (TRAC) was charged with examining the implementation of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which created the CEC.
NAAEC is the environmental side agreement to NAFTA, signed by the three countries in 1993. It's the first environmental accord to be established in parallel to an international trade agreement.
The review committee concludes that over the last decade the CEC has:
- Strengthened capacities of government agencies, NGOs, communities and business to better manage environmental issues in the three countries,
- Increased understanding of the complex interactions between trade and the environment, and
- Engaged citizens in encouraging the three North American governments to be more transparent and accountable for enforcement of their environmental laws.
The report also provides detailed, unanimous recommendations to the environment ministers of North America who form the governing Council of the CEC.
Pierre Marc Johnson, a former premier of Quebec and chairman of the committee, called upon the three environment ministers to "strengthen and renew their governments' commitments and contributions to the CEC as their institution for trilateral environmental cooperation and for assessing the linkages between NAFTA and the environment"
"The CEC has very good potential to strengthen the relationships among Canadian, Mexican and US academics, NGOs, businesses and governments active on environmental issues," said Blanca Torres, a noted Mexican expert in international relations, who has also served on the Joint Public Advisory Committee, which advises the CEC Council.
"The CEC has been a leader in building our knowledge of trade and environment links and is now well placed to work in partnership with others to build markets for green trade and develop market-based instruments to address environmental issues," confirmed Jennifer Haverkamp, a US member of the committee, who was actively involved in the negotiation of the NAAEC.
Ten Years of North American Environmental Cooperation and short résumés of the TRAC members are available on the CEC web site at: <www.cec.org/trac>.
For more information, please contact Spencer Tripp at (514) 350-4331. |
