Promoting a positive agenda
International decision-making is dominated by the pursuit of short-term economic goals, leading to the unreflective drive for deregulation and liberalisation. Clearly, there are pressing economic concerns which must be addressed in the short-term. But in the course of doing so, there is also a need to accommodate longer-term implications.
Given this focus, the current system of international organisations is ill-equipped to deliver on sustainable development objectives. In the absence of a broader strategy that addresses this fundamental problem, the pursuit of WWF's overarching mission of conserving the world's biological diversity may end up being compromised in the long term.WWF's Trade and Investment Programme recognises this possibility and focuses on positive solutions that accommodate both short-term economic needs - particularly where these are most pressing - and longer-term concerns.
The overall goal of WWF's Trade and Investment Unit is to facilitate the creation of a global economic model that places sustainable development at the centre of its decision-making processes.
This requires a fundamental shift from the current mode of thinking, which currently equates economic growth with sustainable development per se, and sees trade liberalisation as an end in itself. Instead, trade and investment should be considered tools for the achievement of sustainable development, rather than making trade liberalisation the end goal.
Instead of focussing only on marginal improvements, WWF is seeking to find strategic levers that can both improve the situation in the short term, as well as to enable the global system to move towards this critical shift in approach.
WWF is working to address this challenge in innovative and positive ways. Rather than focussing solely on obstacles to sustainability and criticisms of the multilateral trading system, WWF is working to identify new and exciting ways of moving forward.
Specifically, WWF's Trade and Investment Unit takes the following approach:
- Proactive in setting and carrying out our agenda
- uses new, innovative approaches and strategies to make progress
- Anticipating emerging challenges: staying ahead of the curve
- Galvanising global players willing to take a leadership role and highlight their successes
- Focus on alliance-building in the private and public sector with forward thinking organisations and companies
- Taking an international approach: creating a team of trade officers in influential national capitals to allow for political engagement on the issue through a coherent and concerted international team-based approach
- Working through a set of focal issues (see case studies) which act as delivery vehicles on our goals.
WWF works in the policy arena elaborating and disseminating those progressive stances taken by key governments and businesses. We work through the media and our existing global campaigns to raise concern on trade and environment issues. We also build strategic alliances and partnerships in the public and private sector as well as working with global payers willing to take a leadership role.
