In the past two years, WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) has witnessed an acceleration of its work in particular on traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.  However, the gap in positions on genetic resources remains significant.

Against this background, this issue paper examines at length the range of measures and options discussed in the IGC especially biodiversity disclosure requirements and databases. It also considers the binding or non-binding nature of the instrument(s) that might emerge from the IGC and their different implications. In connection to all these aspects, the paper makes recommendations regarding processes, substance and existing research gaps that could contribute towards advancing the IGC’s deliberations.

For that reason, this paper analyses market access opportunities for environmental goods (EGs) from developing countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions and focuses on a few issues particularly relevant to these countries. The paper uses a partial equilibrium model to estimate the possible trade effects of different tariff liberalisation scenarios for ACP countries. It finds that any tariff elimination by ACP countries will result in an increased level of imports and a deepening of the trade imbalance in this sector. The paper subsequently discusses how to leverage the benefits that may come from tariff liberalization of environmental goods.

Nuestra investigación se basa en una serie de diálogos sobre políticas y en consultas realizadas por el ICTSD en los últimos quince años y en particular en estos últimos dos años, con ministros, formuladores de políticas y otros actores importantes de los países productores y exportadores de banano. Este trabajo llamó la atención del Ministerio de Coordinación de la Política Económica del Ecuador y constituye los fundamentos para el documento que se presenta a continuación. El Ministerio y el ICTSD facilitaron el diálogo entre el profesor Anania y diversos actores de la industria bananera nacional. Las discusiones con actores del sector privado y público llevaron a la reformulación de algunas de las preguntas principales y al descubrimiento de nuevas rutas de investigación. De esta manera, el profesor Anania ha sido capaz de abordar temas que aún no se han tratado en la literatura existente.

The paper assesses the effectiveness of the AfT initiative in Nepal. It demonstrates that AfT has played a role in enhancing the country’s export performance. Notably, AfT-supported capacity building programmes have, in some cases, improved the competitiveness of Nepali exporters and promoted small-scale industries for products such as tea, cardamom and ginger. However, the potential effectiveness of AfT in Nepal is also hampered by various factors, such as low absorptive capacity; limited progress in making AfT projects financially and institutionally sustainable; and the need for more ownership by government agencies and the private sector. Finally, building on the study’s findings, the paper provides concrete recommendations to assist Nepal in making AfT programmes more effective in achieving their trade and development goals.

However, less is known about the actual implementation of IP obligations in PTAs. This issue paper aims to bridge this research gap by analyzing how PTAs have influenced IP regimes in developing countries and the challenges these countries face in implementing these obligations.

In this regard, the paper finds that PTAs are clearly drivers of significant IP reform in developing countries and that the implementation challenge for these countries is real and complex. The challenge does not only arise because of the higher standards of IPR protection under PTAs but also because of the sometimes narrow scope for interpretation when transposing these obligations into domestic law.  In addition, the implementation itself, whether through literal transposition of the law or through adaptation, leads to different outcome depending on the implementing country’s legal system and how stakeholders respond to the changes.

The paper posits that implementation does not stop with the transposition of international trade obligations into the domestic legal system. Rather, it continues with the need to modify laws and enforcement practices. In essence, PTAs become “live” agreements that must be actively managed over time.

One lesson that emerges is that countries engaged in PTAs negotiations should bear in mind the possible implementation challenges and the considerations set forth in the paper. After signing the PTAs, the implementation process requires a detailed examination of the nature of obligations and adequate use of any flexibility available and, where necessary, further elaboration of concepts and legal terms.

Finally, the paper identifies the need for further country-specific examination and consideration of ways to manage the implementation and transposition of PTA standards into domestic law, adopting additional complementary mechanism, as well as addressing institutional capacity constraints.The implementation by developed country partners of the provisions that might be beneficial to developing countries, such as the technology transfer provisions in the EU-CARIFORUM agreement, also requires further assessment.

This paper assesses the effectiveness of the AfT initiative in Malawi, one of the least-developed and most agricultural-based nations in the world, on the basis of ICTSD/SAWTEE independent methodological framework. It highlights both the progress achieved so far in mainstreaming trade but also the challenges associated with a lack of local ownership and the need to tackle the core factors that are required to build Malawi’s absorptive and institutional capacities. It finally provides some concrete recommendations intended to assist Malawi in implementing AfT programmes more effectively and the donor community at both the local and international levels to better respond to the country’s development needs.

The issue paper highlights the role of trade in contributing to massively scaling up and deploying renewable energy, a crucial step in supporting a shift away from fossil fuel so as to ensure energy security and to address climate change. It identifies a number of barriers to trade in sustainable energy goods and services (SEGS), while pointing to a significant governance gap in a number of key issue areas in the trade and sustainable energy interface. The authors argue that this can best be addressed by negotiating a trade agreement on sustainable energy. Such an agreement could initially take the form of a plurilateral agreement including a critical mass of major economies and emitters, either within or outside of the WTO.

This paper challenges these norms of neglect by taking a close look at trade in the services that are essential for the development and dissemination of climate-friendly technologies. The paper reveals which services can be linked to action on climate change, what barriers are impeding trade in these services, and what commitments governments have made on lifting these barriers. As such, the paper provides valuable insights for both the specific negotiations on EGS and for negotiations on services in general.

Interestingly, this paper shows that there are significant economic and environmental benefits to liberalizing trade in environmental services that address climate change and the goods that are indispensable for delivering them in tandem. It also shows that despite these advantages there remain many challenges to realizing them.

The study builds on a series of recent ICTSD studies that map and classify climate-friendly goods and analyse trade patterns, drivers, and barriers in such goods. As this paper shows, a vast range of services across multiple sectors appears to be related to implementing climate change policies. The paper covers multiple key mitigation sectors identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): energy supply, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, forestry, and waste. In doing so, the paper goes beyond the issue of market access and national treatment and points to a variety of domestic laws and regulations, such as those regarding government procurement.