Agricultural Subsidies in the WTO Green Box: Ensuring Coherence with Sustainable Development Goals

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Table of Contents......Page 7
List of contributors......Page 10
Preface......Page 19
Part I: The evolution of agricultural trade policy reform......Page 21
Part III: Green box subsidies and developing countries......Page 22
Part V: Looking forward: how can change take place?......Page 23
Acknowledgements......Page 25
List of abbreviations......Page 27
1 Overview......Page 33
Are green box subsidies trade-distorting?......Page 36
Green box as a tool for development?......Page 38
Do green box subsidies help to protect the environment?......Page 40
Rural development and equity......Page 43
The way forward......Page 44
Part I The recent evolution of agricultural trade policy reform......Page 49
The International Economy......Page 51
The trading system......Page 55
The political economy of the negotiations......Page 57
Mandate and proposals......Page 59
OECD research......Page 62
Two more years of negotiations......Page 63
The Agreement on Agriculture......Page 64
Conclusions......Page 65
EEC......Page 66
V. Other publications......Page 67
Introduction......Page 68
Negotiating mandates......Page 69
Political dynamics and coalitions......Page 71
Likely outcomes of the green box negotiations......Page 72
Evolution of the negotiations......Page 73
Countries stake out initial positions......Page 74
The first detailed drafting proposals......Page 77
Harbinson\'s draft modalities text......Page 78
The 2003 Cancún ministerial conference......Page 79
From Cancún to Hong Kong......Page 80
Falconer\'s modalities drafts: the text stabilises......Page 83
Paragraph 2: General services......Page 88
Paragraph 3: Public stockholding for food security purposes......Page 90
Paragraph 4: Domestic food aid......Page 91
Paragraph 5: Direct payments to producers......Page 92
Paragraph 6: Decoupled income support......Page 93
Paragraph 7: Income insurance and income safety-net programmes......Page 96
Paragraph 8: Disaster relief......Page 97
Paragraph 11: Investment aids......Page 98
Paragraph 13: Regional assistance programmes......Page 99
Conclusion......Page 100
Introduction......Page 102
Decoupling support for European farmers......Page 103
The switch from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2......Page 106
The EU\'s green box declarations......Page 108
The WTO compatibility of the EU\'s green box policies......Page 110
An expanded green box?......Page 113
Concluding comments......Page 114
References......Page 116
Introduction......Page 118
Policy \"visioning\" assessments......Page 120
Historical perspective......Page 122
Unilateral farm policy reform in the 1996 FAIR Act......Page 123
Re-institutionalizing Higher Farm Support in 2002......Page 124
Buyouts of peanut quotas and tobacco quotas and price supports......Page 127
Conservation program subsidies......Page 130
Strategic reform paths......Page 132
A hypothetical buyout of the main farm support programs......Page 133
Continued support under the 2008 farm bill......Page 135
Role of the WTO......Page 143
Summary and conclusion......Page 148
References......Page 151
Introduction......Page 153
Structure of Japanese agriculture......Page 154
Recent development of agricultural policy reform......Page 156
Domestic support in decoupling policy......Page 159
Major policy change and its political economy......Page 164
Concluding remarks......Page 166
Part II The focus, extent and economic impact of green box subsidies......Page 167
Introduction......Page 169
The WTO URAA framework......Page 171
The economics of reducing the production and trade impacts of agricultural support measures......Page 173
The economics behind the law......Page 178
Domestic support in the European Union......Page 183
Domestic support in the United States......Page 187
Domestic support in Japan......Page 191
Domestic support across all WTO countries......Page 194
Focus of green box spending: types of green box measure......Page 198
Green box spending in the European Union......Page 199
Green box spending in the United States......Page 204
Green box spending in Japan......Page 208
Green box spending across all WTO countries......Page 212
Concluding remarks......Page 217
Appendix 1 Summary of World Trade Organization notified support by the European Union, the United States and Japan......Page 221
Appendix 2 Detailed green box notifications by the European Union, the United States and Japan......Page 227
Introduction......Page 271
Accumulation of subsidies: an economic analysis......Page 272
Accumulation of subsidies: a simple taxonomy......Page 275
Support levels in the United States......Page 279
Cases......Page 280
Negotiating a solution......Page 285
References......Page 287
Introduction......Page 290
The measurement of domestic subsidy and the definition of the green box......Page 292
EU domestic subsidy notifications and the green box......Page 294
EAGGF, the two pillars of the CAP and the green box......Page 298
An estimate of the green box total for each EU Member State......Page 300
Budgetary support for agriculture in France and green box estimates......Page 305
Direct aid linked to products and the control of supply (blue box)......Page 306
The decoupled single payment (green box, see Paragraph 6, Annex 2 of the URAA)......Page 308
Rural development (green box) subsidies......Page 309
Other aid for agriculture and rural areas (green box)......Page 310
The green box and the European farming economy......Page 311
Green box support: the case of livestock rearing in mountain areas......Page 320
Investment aid: aid for modernisation of animal housing......Page 323
The introduction of decoupling and the future single payment (green box) total......Page 325
Conclusion......Page 327
References......Page 329
Appendix A Green box support to French farms according to type of production and farm size (France, 2005)......Page 331
Distributional structure of US green box payments......Page 336
Distribution of conservation payments......Page 346
Trade distortions from green box subsidies......Page 349
How infra-marginal subsidies can distort production......Page 350
How US decoupled payments distort production......Page 351
Concluding remarks......Page 353
References......Page 356
Part III Green box subsidies and developing countries......Page 359
Typical green box policies: legal arguments and interpretations......Page 361
Evolution of green box expenditure: 1995 onwards......Page 363
Dividing green box expenditure by programme......Page 370
Main inferences from the first section......Page 373
Decoupled programmes: theoretical aspects......Page 374
Evolution of the composition in decoupled income support in the EU and the US......Page 376
Could decoupled subsidies be causing distortion effects?......Page 379
Agri-environmental programmes......Page 382
Revision of the Doha Round proposals for the green box......Page 385
The green box will not be reformed effectively in the Doha Round......Page 391
Directions for reform......Page 393
The green box and developing countries......Page 394
Conclusions......Page 396
References and further reading......Page 399
12 Use of green box measures by developing countries: an assessment......Page 401
Green box measures: A critical assessment......Page 402
Trends in the use of domestic support measures by developing countries......Page 407
Relative significance of green box spending for developing countries......Page 410
Trends in developing country green box spending......Page 413
Relative importance of the green box components......Page 415
Making green box measures more development friendly......Page 419
Conclusions......Page 422
13 A Chinese perspective on the green box......Page 431
Structure......Page 432
The efficiency of China\'s green box subsidies......Page 434
Policy objectives of China\'s green box subsidies......Page 438
Opportunities and challenges facing China in the use of green box subsidies......Page 439
Prospects for reforming green box rules......Page 441
Conclusion......Page 443
African perspectives on the green box measures......Page 444
The use of green box subsidies by African countries......Page 446
Relevance of green box subsidies to African agriculture......Page 450
Special and differential treatment for developing countries......Page 452
Increasing the scope of green box measures......Page 453
Conclusion......Page 454
Part IV Green box subsidies and the environment......Page 457
Introduction......Page 459
Green box criteria......Page 460
The general structure and criteria of the green box......Page 461
Evaluating the link between production and environmental impacts......Page 462
General services......Page 469
Public stockholding and domestic food aid......Page 475
Direct payments......Page 476
Policy filters affecting agriculture\'s environmental impacts......Page 483
Summary of the direct and indirect environmental effects of green box support......Page 488
Proposals for reform......Page 489
Conclusions and recommendations for further research......Page 492
References and further reading......Page 495
Introduction......Page 500
The common agricultural policy: a journey to the green box......Page 502
Greening the common agricultural policy......Page 503
The case for public payments for land management in the EU......Page 504
EU green box subsidies......Page 505
Overview of CAP spending......Page 506
Decoupled and partially coupled direct payments and cross-compliance......Page 507
Agri-environment......Page 509
Less favoured areas......Page 512
Afforestation......Page 513
Rural development axes 1 and 3......Page 514
Retargeting subsidies......Page 516
Better design and implementation......Page 517
Effective coherence of environmental schemes with socioeconomic schemes (rural development axes 1 and 3)......Page 518
What changes are needed to the green box criteria?......Page 519
Appendix: proposed amendments to Annex 2 of the Agreement on Agriculture......Page 522
References......Page 525
The green box is not green......Page 528
The 2007 US green box notification......Page 529
Relevant environmental effects......Page 530
US agriculture\'s environmental effects – a very short and selective history......Page 531
US law requires environmental impact assessment of green box programs, but few such assessments exist......Page 533
General services......Page 535
Research......Page 536
Extension and training......Page 537
Marketing and promotion......Page 538
Direct payments to producers and decoupled income support......Page 539
Tobacco program buyout......Page 543
Income insurance and safety-net programs......Page 544
Payments for relief from natural disasters......Page 545
Structural adjustment through investment aids......Page 546
Environmental programs......Page 547
The expenditure to distribution ratio......Page 551
The expenditure to effects ratio......Page 552
Recommendations......Page 553
The environmental programs......Page 554
Direct payments......Page 556
Green box notifications......Page 557
References......Page 558
18 Biofuels subsidies and the green box......Page 562
Biofuel policies in major countries......Page 564
The United States......Page 565
The European Union......Page 566
Other countries......Page 568
The WTO and biofuel subsidies......Page 569
Doha Round......Page 573
Green box and US farm policies......Page 575
Green box and the CAP......Page 577
Use of the green box by other countries......Page 579
Compatibility with green box rules......Page 585
Biofuel subsidies and green box criteria......Page 588
Possible changes to green box criteria......Page 593
The way forward?......Page 596
References......Page 599
Part V Looking forward: how can change take place?......Page 601
Background......Page 603
Current provisions on monitoring and surveillance......Page 605
The Doha Round mandate......Page 607
Monitoring and surveillance proposals submitted by the G-20 and Cairns Group......Page 608
Green box: specific ways to improve the current monitoring and surveillance system......Page 610
Existing provisions that could be useful for improving monitoring and surveillance......Page 612
Summary and conclusions......Page 613
References......Page 614
Introduction......Page 615
Where the CAP comes from......Page 616
Where the CAP is now: green box contents......Page 619
Green box reform: objectives and main interest groups......Page 620
Promotion of sustainable rural development......Page 623
Protection and restoration of the environment......Page 626
Climate change: the contribution of agriculture to the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its unavoidable effects......Page 628
Support developing countries in their policies to achieve sustainable development......Page 630
Summary and conclusions......Page 632
References......Page 633
Introduction......Page 636
Recent evolution of US farm policy......Page 638
The 2008 Farm Bill debate......Page 640
A retreat from decoupling......Page 644
References......Page 648
Introduction......Page 650
International comparison of agricultural policies......Page 651
Formation of Japanese agricultural policy and decline in international competitiveness of agriculture and food self-sufficiency......Page 654
Political environment of Japanese agricultural policy......Page 657
The state of Japanese agricultural policy reform......Page 658
Future prospects: globalization and Japan\'s declining population......Page 661
References......Page 663
Introduction......Page 665
Agreement on agriculture and the agricultural reform process......Page 666
Green box negotiating objectives......Page 668
Comments on the present green box......Page 670
The WTO as a locus to support sustainable development goals and the role of litigation......Page 676
Conclusions......Page 677
Government Service Programmes......Page 679
Index......Page 686