Beyond Pollution Havens

In: Global Environmental Politics, Band 2, Heft 2, S. 1-10

Abstract

Poor countries suffer from serious environmental damage, & much more pollution control is justifiable. Weak regulation is partly to blame, but the evidence suggests that it reflects a general development problem, not deliberate creation of "pollution havens" to promote investment & trade. Aid from the OECD countries can help reduce pollution in poor countries by promoting better public information about polluters, stronger regulatory institutions, & more explicit attention to environmental risks in large projects. However, attempts to enforce OECD-level regulatory standards through general trade & aid sanctions are both regressive & useless: regressive because they penalize workers in poor countries by reducing opportunities for jobs & higher wages; useless because governments of low-income countries cannot deliver on promises of OECD-level regulation, even if they wish to do so. 42 References. Adapted from the source document.