| Montreal, 22/02/1999 – Recent announcements of progress in negotiations on a
North American agreement on transboundary environmental impact assessment mark an
important step in trinational cooperation to conserve and protect the North American
environment, and avoid environment related border disputes.
At a US-Mexican summit last Monday in Mérida, Mexico, President Bill Clinton and
President Ernesto Zedillo expressed their satisfaction, "to be approaching agreement,
along with Canada, on a trilateral arrangement to ensure the cross-border effects of many
proposed projects and activities can be included in our respective environmental impact
assessments, and that bordering states and their citizens will be able to participate in
the assessment process."
At the end of a Canada-Mexico bilateral meeting last Friday in
Ottawa Canadian Environment Minister Christine Stewart and Mexican Secretary of
Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries Julia Carabias reiterated their commitment to
finalize the negotiations on transboundary environmental impact assessment, within the
framework of the environmental side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA). These efforts represent an important step in promoting cooperation on
environmental assessment of many proposed projects.
Under that side agreement, the 1994 North American Agreement on
Environmental Cooperation, the three countries agreed to develop recommendations covering
proposed projects, "likely to cause significant adverse transboundary effects."
In 1997, the Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), composed of
the three environment ministers, agreed to develop a transboundary environmental impact
assessment agreement, and the countries began negotiating its terms.
"This agreement will be an important milestone for North American cooperation and
public participation in addressing potential cross-border environmental impacts of
proposed projects," said Janine Ferretti, CEC Interim Executive Director. "We
will continue to support the negotiations, and look forward to the conclusion of an
agreement in the near future," she added.
The CEC is a trinational organization that was created at the time NAFTA was signed to
address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental
conflicts and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law.
|
