The Forest Foundation Participates in Alternative Development Tour at WTO/FTAA Meeting in Cancun, Mexico
From September 3rd – 8th, The Forest Foundation, a Durham based organization, participated in the “Whose Trade Organization?”, a reality tour through the Yucatan of Mexico, sponsored by Global Exchange.
The tour illuminated the many negative affects that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), World Trade Organization’s (WTO) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas’(FTAA) negotiations have had thus far on the Mexican working families, their economy and environment. The tour looked at issues of poverty, tourism, fishing, water privatization, forest conservation, and indigenous rights, and preceded the scheduled meeting of WTO’s trade ministry in Cancun from Sept. 10th -14th. Tour participants visited with social workers, local farmers, a fishing cooperative, and sustainable forestry project of an “ejido” (a cooperative form of land management found established Mexico during their Revolution at the turn of the Century.)
WTO and FTAA commenced this round of negotiations after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) began in 1994. WTO focuses on a global trade, while FTAA is working on a new, hemisphere- wide “free trade” agreement. These organizations have delegates from nearly every country in the world, posing as entities that support and promote global growth and prosperity. However, in reality these organizations have been undemocratic, actually negotiating much of the control of the global economy into corporate hands and providing no assistance to soften the impacts of open markets on various socio-economic sectors or the environment.
On a broad level the negative affects of these trade agreements have been startling from environmental degradation, loss of jobs, suppression of labor wages, to changes in demographics and mass migration. Closer to home, NAFTA’s effects on North Carolina have been dramatic, with tens of thousands of NC-based jobs having moved over the border or overseas in search of cheaper labor, resources and often un-enforced and poor environmental regulation. North Carolina has one of the fastest growing Latino populations in the country. Many illegal immigrants are farmers who have lost their land or been displaced, due to dumping of subsidized corn by U.S. companies or the collapse in global commodity prices, such as coffee. Rural economic development in developing countries, as well as in our own state, have been and will be heavily impacted by these free trade agreements. Free trade is not Fair trade. Little has been done to internalize external costs of trade.
Global Exchange, based in San Francisco, California, is a non-profit international human rights organization. They sponsor efforts such as reality tours, as a way for people to learn and understand about how political and economic forces are impacting human rights, and how citizens can act to reclaim a democratic process and promote “fair trade” that supports social justice, peace, sustainable livelihood and a clean environment. The Forest Foundation, based in Durham, NC, is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization that works to promote and support biodiversity conservation through model programs in education, sustainable business, rural economic development, and fair trade.
For more information about the FTAA, WTO, or the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, check out the following contacts: