Some Issues in Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development: The Case of African Agriculture

Agricultural trade holds potential for the development of African agriculture. Notwithstanding the different perspectives about the relationship between trade and development, trade and environment, there is consensus on the need to integrate environmental concerns into trade policy design. In the absence of strong environmental policy, trade liberalisation is capable of aggravating trade-induced environmental problems to an unsustainable level. While, the identified four linkages between trade and environment were capable of exerting positive and negative effects on the environment, the net effect on the African countries are most likely to be negative given the weak environmental policy. The paper argues for appropriate trade, investment, technology, and environmental policies as a prerequisite for maintaining trade-induced environmental damages at a sustainable level.