Public Participation in the Environmental Undertaking in the Trans Pacific Partnership a Listening Approach.
Abstract
There
are few more urgent topics than public participation within international free
trade agreements (FTAs). The problem of
public participation in international trade has been identified in the
literature as a core democratic issue facing trade governance in the 21st
century. For it has been acknowledged
that free trade agreements have within them the means to create for
international society inequality or equality, to create innovation or
monopolization, food sustainability and security, or to have large agriculture
investments devoid of connections to the land or society. Public Participation
is essential to promote the best version of FTAs in which humanised ethical
development of FTAs occurs, rather than to allow FTAs to become constraining
and unequal legal structures. This article draws on the pre-existing literature
from international law and listening scholarship and also evidence established
through a participatory action process undertaken by this author in the area of
an FTA. The article melds these pre-existing ideas. Through this article it is
envisaged that the public is introduced to one core point, silence in the ongoing
operation and functioning of a FTA is a breach of the State’s obligation to the
public. The public can expect, both legally under the FTA and as a political
participatory listening subject, to have on-going narratives about the working
of FTAs. The case study used is the environmental chapter, in the TPP, which is
currently under negotiation, to demonstrate that international society should
expect to listen to narratives around the reconciliation of trade and the
environment.
Keywords
Trans -Pacific Partnership,Public Participation,Environment,Listening,Trade,Narratives,Silence
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