THE GREENING OF FREE-TRADE - THE DEBATE ABOUT THE NORTH-AMERICAN FREE-TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA) AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The study of human-nature relationships has long been central to geogr aphic inquiry. Recent attempts to reconcile the growing demands of the international economy with the equally important concerns about envir onmental protection can be seen as one challenge to the dominant const ruction of human-nature relationships. Attempts to 'green trade' are w ell illustrated in the debate about the North American Free Trade Agre ement (NAFTA) and the environment. This paper presents three arguments . First, the growing influence of the environmental movement in the US A during the past twenty-five years has embedded concern for the envir onment in political culture. This 'politics of the environment' is exe mplified in NAFTA's explicit goal of promoting sustainable development . Including sustainable development as a specified goal thus provided environmentalists a legitimate entry into the NAFTA debate over free t rade, development, and environmental protection. Second, it is argued that the NAFTA debate highlights several trade-environment dilemmas, d ilemmas which must be addressed in order to reconcile economics and th e environment. Particular attention will be paid to the debate about N AFTA and environmental sovereignty. Third, the NAFTA debate brought to gether two distinct communities: free traders and environmentalists. F ar from being two exclusive communities, in this paper I assert that e conomics and the environment must be seen as interdependent forces whi ch will increasingly interact with each other. In the case of NAFTA, t hese two communities not only interacted with each other, they created a common ground which made supporting NAFTA acceptable to both intere st groups. The creation of a common ground took place through negotiat ion, debate, and compromise, and thus is a fundamental engagement with human-nature constructions. I conclude that we can expect the environ mental community to participate in future trade and development issues because environmentalists now see these areas as critical to reconcil ing economic-environment and human-nature relationships.