[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: Science Matters - Re-imagining trade for people and the planet

[Catherine Walther]

So happy to see it has started.  Catherine

When life wins there will be no losers. A'Ida Shibli


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: David Suzuki Foundation <subscribers at davidsuzuki.org>
Date: Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Subject: Science Matters - Re-imagining trade for people and the planet
To: <catherine.walther at gmail.com>


Change is imminent, and Canada’s next government must make our country a
global leader in re-imagining trade for people and the planet.
To view this email as a web page, click here
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/v/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XJV8eldf7SCXJK8m9DnzG8oxRWz5WpOiMLyUwqyZfnJhjABpAygZUCycowpSvF1-C4A=>

[image: David Suzuki Foundation]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XCU1xA33jZQj3EbIEeXC-rrNpTjJCbsPgHywV3NuwEf36g5SGShXi8XD_3ZVyfxnibw=>



[image: A freight boat carrying shipping containers.]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XReU1CbM3uYqJQdaGit6gFbe1I8v8YOUWd0paqoM8QrnaUNGN6KmKT4lfdQAmH6-m9I=>

Re-imagining trade for people and the planet

Today’s global trade system is rooted in the 1947 General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XE9CT4-tVTjzUiI247WkYrFLfQO0pvFgcMtzJmzoA9wFsrxJTnZHxbGkOUKsMsfxYTE=>.
The idea then was that fostering interdependencies between nations would
suppress the risk of world wars — 75 million had just died in the Second
World War — and protect our common humanity from the atrocities of
genocide, mass bombings, starvation, disease and conflict.

Global trade has since morphed into a regime that facilitates human and
environmental exploitation, Indigenous dispossession and economic
colonialism. Free trade has perpetuated global systems of toxic production
and consumption rooted in oil, gas and coal extraction. Rampant
exploitation of natural resources has left us in a world of unprecedented,
raging global conflict.

Change is imminent, and Canada’s next government must make our country a
global leader in re-imagining trade for people and the planet.

Global trade has since morphed into a regime that facilitates human and
environmental exploitation, Indigenous dispossession and economic
colonialism.

Given our shared border with the United States — the longest in the world —
the next Canadian government must prioritize preventing U.S. human and
environmental rights repression
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XOhH1Bpsbnv7qPyqQ1K6yRqFRLo5aBM7ugvAnVu0SgEDDOd99afOpcWjsLbPlG17a_g=>,
catastrophic deregulation, assaults on vulnerable groups and populist
economic policy from extending into Canada. With the Canada-United
States-Mexico Agreement
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XMD4cdGN2-qs3YgwjqMqB2hoBg7cZonyjmLBO4kwF6jCF6OybWk3dBgNTJH6s90WwRA=>
up for review in 2026, our upcoming political leadership has an
unprecedented opportunity and responsibility to launch a new trade paradigm
for Canada.

Instead of looking to renegotiate incremental improvements to CUSMA — a
trade agreement that has predominantly propelled economic growth patterns
rooted in resource extraction, land and water dispossession, environmental
degradation and suppression of Indigenous rights
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XCs_JNhaaLBEM6d40zPKLZi8lLxshG4THuoAH_RV4cm5i5Mh5ugiTQtVEHi_IKQmxiU=>
— Canada should re-imagine its trade policy through a human rights,
environmental and intergenerational equity lens.

Canada needs to break away from the hegemonic hold of the U.S., as our
prosperity has never been more intimately linked with our capacity to
uphold strong democratic institutions, respect and fulfil Indigenous
rights, accelerate climate action and halt biodiversity loss.

Progressive new trade policies and agreements driven by global
environmental objectives, as well as decades-old attempts through the
United Nations General Assembly to reshape the global trade system
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XHDf53jUTPusZUDvgr3uzq5gLv51XgawBmJWimT-8JCLsTGbOVmwU57odXZWagsA-68=>
and decolonize it, offer some direction.

Canada should re-imagine its trade policy through a human rights,
environmental and intergenerational equity lens.

The governments of New Zealand, Costa Rica, Iceland and Switzerland
recently introduced an Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XC31mx-O-BqeY1tYj3iyRAznRO3PSAMsaFVahctk93asPcT5o1PdoYiZN-1ZBocHfiw=>
that breaks ground by envisioning trade through a climate-protection lens.
Despite some weaknesses, it’s the first treaty to introduce legally binding
trade rules on fossil fuel subsidies. It eliminates trade barriers on an
unprecedented number of environmental goods and services and introduces
eco-labelling guidelines.

Unlike predominant trade agreements whose opening lines refer to the
importance of liberalizing trade for robust economic growth, ACCTS
immediately points to “the urgent action all nations must take to combat
climate change as well as loss of biodiversity, pollution and other serious
environmental challenges.”

The preamble goes on to recognize “that trade and trade policy can and must
support climate change mitigation and adaptation, pollution prevention and
control, and the sustainable use, protection or restoration of
biodiversity, ecosystems and natural resources, including water and marine
resources.”

It also mentions the “importance of active stewardship, guardianship and
protection of natural surroundings” and emphasizes “the essential role the
environment plays in the well-being of citizens and communities, including
Indigenous Peoples, among others, and the importance of their contribution
to efforts to pursue sustainable development objectives.”

Rather than try to appease increasingly fascist foreign governments, we
should be halting centuries of resource and labour exploitation.

In contrast, the re-negotiated (in 2020) CUSMA preamble doesn’t even
mention global environmental objectives. Protecting human, animal and plant
life is secondary to trade liberalization objectives, and environmental
protection is seen primarily through the prism of national environmental
law enforcement, rather than adoption of ambitious, climate science–aligned
trade rules and economic policy. And while Canada entered into CUSMA’s 2018
negotiations intending to secure extensive protections for Indigenous
rights, the final agreement fell short
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XOTVfOMGuTTAwVWfklSNaTIdKeKThfIVFTLmrDCeWo3zRhEiso55bjUDkB6Dls36V24=>
of reaffirming the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, or the fundamental principle of free and prior informed consent.

We need to end economic globalization patterns that enrich polluting
industries and the wealthy while harming the vulnerable working world
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XK4D0C_GUPMB3hci21ub9s8gZRYWcIcofgxY5UrsCcQRVqSV-QOCRAPZ-5QwzHlKXJU=>.
Canada should not only diversify trade, it should align itself with
countries ready to centre human and environmental rights in trade policy.
Rather than try to appease increasingly fascist foreign governments, we
should be halting centuries of resource and labour exploitation. At the
very least, Canada must follow the lead of countries such as New Zealand,
Costa Rica, Iceland and Switzerland and make human and environmental rights
part of trade agreements.

*By David Suzuki, with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Quebec
and Atlantic Canada Director General Sabaa Khan*
Read Online
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XG_ScMUHPwHvt8xeiyeZy_9ikLFPS6S047kLp6BolLuqAAHZfcUJ2kjJrSVsKqJQgJs=>

*Share this story!*
[image: Share on Facebook]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XGp_oKR7aRt13vN6pZiAzGxGYZaDJDAIJ_tEA0qES8a8tTLZLJKpanyALoKp7uCBPC8=>

[image: Share on Twitter]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XYJ0klTfWhNzwr3gkpzNl-O6sWa8UNzF7_iEWoHPSE0HWv0mcQFfpSF6P9fnG4zScAc=>

Support the David Suzuki Foundation

Your gift will help push for bold climate action, protect nature so it can
sustain all life and create resilient communities that benefit *everyone*.
Donate Today
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XLUY2HmiSaON2p10JwqCMLMIpKHVEAXenR22doPyLUrbM4IzGy1IUlehLUcgoB01Ods=>

This email was sent to catherine.walther at gmail.com. To configure which
emails we send you, please manage your content preferences here
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XMV6qeyHoxwAoKkzupv6_a8PdMoQKWWTGa-EQLE5DjZzp9W7D_43KKH2SwYjgn220UQ=>
. If you no longer wish to receive any email from the David Suzuki
Foundation, you can unsubscribe
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XOblJeP9Fp0xHxFCbko_l3Nvy0VVh7xzNy6fVZf4LNBecjAjnB4dj9-8Vbo2H8YJbpw=>
at any time.

The David Suzuki Foundation is a registered charity in both Canada (BN
127756716RR0001) and the United States (94-3204049). We are located at 340-1122
Mainland Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 5L1
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/1122+Mainland+Street,+Vancouver,+B.C.,+V6B+5L1?entry=gmail&source=g>,
and we also have offices in Montreal and Toronto. Please visit our website
for more information on how to contact us
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XM4Mzjd1ahE4UGEFEE0sMJk7i6uxGKbbbtZOJImzmeeyVJCCUfS182emMY337Wt_Z7g=>
.
[image: facebook.png]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XLGDSLrEgk9dScojeAx7bjSWm4YkT03NigaNy9O-OTUmWAxdlcCj5wUZCfwOwUouNzU=>

[image: Instagram]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XH1ZC9LPy9Ys1yLBavwD1COPbmdXKR5Z1Y5xADbvoedPK3eQf7zaCfv4CD1EF1BT7tE=>

[image: twitter.png]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XKx-M2ctb9oFuROgCZV5ShK4_79WfkSZ7bvibOKDoAd7ST5iPpmv0nwsOhnsvjW-4DQ=>

[image: YouTube]
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XKq9J276aR9D4at5Gz2SpRWaaX3xsq8kGo6UZK8v7LHXtD4DnkMhCAhCBMquJ5iheW8=>

<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XNbkSxVFMHbW0tPC5Ga-pHBUpfwp1JeO2WvH58dzv9KBgC3qk6SQYbQP5bfODLHCHDQ=>
<https://go.davidsuzuki.org/MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGYo018XJ5Rn4SXou962I59yXb3q_xiMXyjLjqjQB2XgTgkwHLJ3_XZlntq-4g2bZfkYvAM-lY=>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integralshift.ca/pipermail/sundaycommunity-integralshift.ca/attachments/20250214/a0341713/attachment.htm>