CHAPTER Three

International Trade

The Role of Reforms in Ensuring Food Security and Sustainability

Joseph W. Glauber

DOWNLOAD

Free and open trade can support food security and nutrition and contribute to sustainable resource use

Climate change is projected to cause significant regional shifts in agricultural production, potentially reduce productivity, and increase the volatility of crop and livestock production.
Trade allows countries to obtain nutritious foods at the lowest possible cost, and so will be a key component in any strategy to help countries to feed and nourish their populations. Trade can also promote more efficient use of natural resources and potentially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Food imports make up a growing share of low- and middle-income country food consumption.
Government implementation of mitigation and adaptation policies may effectively help address climate change, but concerns arise if those policies run counter to international trade rules. In particular, proposed measures such as carbon border adjustment measures and “climate-smart” agricultural policies could directly conflict with World Trade Organization (WTO) trade rules if they distort production and trade.

Climate-smart policies such as increasing agricultural productivity and reducing emission intensities through investments in R&D are minimally trade-distorting and one of the most effective ways to address climate change.
Free and open trade should be seen as integral to any climate-smart agriculture strategy because, globally, it can lead to a more efficient use of resources and can help reduce GHG emissions from global agricultural production.
To facilitate trade and help to meet global goals for resilience and mitigation, countries should avoid policies and strategies that distort trade, and should pursue further liberalization of agrifood trade through reductions in tariff and nontariff barriers, trade-distorting domestic support, and export subsidies and restrictions.

