Introduction
The complexity of linkages in international regimes has led us to a changing paradigm in
how we view the economic world.
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The growing expansion of our telecommunications networks
and policies of liberalization have directed many countries to reduce their trade barriers. The
consequences of an extensive neoliberal agenda for developing nations are not insubstantial.
Increasing levels of industrialization that results from reduction in trade barriers has
multiple effects within a country. One specific consequence of expanded industrialization is the
generation of significant pollutants and their subsequent effects on the environment.
Environmental fluctuations cannot be considered merely as measures of absolute values of toxins
that industries release but must also be considered in terms of public health conditions that
decline after an excessive increase in pollutants is experienced in a region. The focus of this
paper is to understand the implications that trade openness has had on the environmental
conditions of a region and its subsequent effects on public health.
There are two schools of thought that exist when considering the relationship of trade and
its effects on the environment. Proponents of free trade, because of its overall improvement to
the welfare of a region, regard environmental degradation as a transient problem which improves
as the GDP of a region increases. (Garber). Others view environmental degradation in less
developed countries as a direct cause of trade de-regulation. In the view of these theorists
pollutants will increase in countries whose production methods cannot be altered to adequately
sustain the new influxes of trade. (Maragi, 2000)
This paper attempts to provide an answer to the current debate on trade regulation and
environmental concerns by providing a model through which measures of trade openness can be
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These complexities have been outlined in the works of Haas – “Why Collaborate Issue Linkages and International
Regimes” -World Politics 32:357-405.
Convention