africa: WHY FOREST ISSUES REQUIRE ATTENTION IN TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

Trade negotiations should recognise the legitimacy of values that can't be expressed in monetary terms, particularly in discussions on the forest sector, says this paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), which argues that sustainable forest management (SFM) - related priorities should inform countries' negotiating objectives and strategies in trade negotiations, even if forest issues do not explicitly feature in them. Trade liberalisation in both agricultural and forest products, affects competitive land use values, which influence the levels and types of forest use.