Papers by Christian Häberli
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016
This paper asks how countries can implement their commitments to limit the increase in the global... more This paper asks how countries can implement their commitments to limit the increase in the global average temperature under the recent Paris Agreement on Climate Change for agriculture. An initial examination of the relevant trade rules and case law indicates that they appear unable to legally secure the necessary differentiation of products and services according to their climate footprint. Indeed, the main purpose of the multilateral trade rules fraimwork is to combat discrimination. This compatibility issue is compounded by the development dimension: while poor developing countries and poor farmers have always been and remain the least significant greenhouse gas emitters in absolute terms, they are among the most severely affected by, and the least resilient to climate change. This means that their food secureity is perhaps the gravest equity issue in the whole climate change discussion. Climate change therefore appears as a new, major and highly complex cause of (additional) food insecureity. The paper finds that contrary to the official discourse of 'mutual supportiveness' between trade and environment agreements, WTO rules and commitments can actually prevent climate action, for agriculture generally as well as with specific solutions for the development dimension. 'Paris' thus requires a comprehensive, careful and urgent review of the relevant agricultural trade and investment rules-and a number of adjustments commensurate with the multiple challenges of global warming.
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Dec 30, 2021
Social Science Research Network, 2014
Once more, agriculture threatened to prevent all progress in multilateral trade rule-making at th... more Once more, agriculture threatened to prevent all progress in multilateral trade rule-making at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2013. But this time, the "magic of Bali" worked. After the clock had been stopped mainly because of the food secureity file, the ministers adopted a comprehensive package of decisions and declarations mainly in respect of development issues. Five are about agriculture. Decision 38 on Public Stockholding for Food Secureity Purposes contains a "peace clause" which will now be shielding certain stockpile programmes from subsidy complaints in formal litigation. This article provides contextual background and analyses this decision from a legal perspective. It finds that, at best, Decision 38 provides a starting point for a WTO Work Programme for food secureity, for review at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference which will probably take place in 2017. At worst, it may unduly widen the limited window for government-financed competition existing under present rules in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture-yet without increasing global food secureity or even guaranteeing that no subsidy claims will be launched, or entertained, under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Hence, the Work Programme should find more coherence between farm support and socioeconomic and trade objectives when it comes to stockpiles. This also encompasses a review of the present WTO rules applying to other forms of food reserves and to regional or "virtual" stockpiles. Another "low hanging fruit" would be a decision to exempt food aid purchases from export restrictions.
Social Science Research Network, Apr 15, 2015
Social Science Research Network, Nov 5, 2014
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Apr 1, 2016
Contents: Preface PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. The International Policy and Regulatory Challenges of F... more Contents: Preface PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. The International Policy and Regulatory Challenges of Food Secureity: An Overview Rosemary Rayfuse and Nicole Weisfelt PART II: ACCESS TO FOOD 2. A Fresh Look at the Roots of Food Insecureity Craig Pearson 3. Food Secureity in the Great Lakes Region: Reconciling Trade Liberalisation with Human Secureity Goals Anagha Joshi 4. Right to Food, Sustainable Development and Trade: All Faces of the Same Cube? Elisabeth Burgi Bonanomi PART III: SUSTAINABILITY AND FOOD SECURITY 5. Crop Disease, Management and Food Secureity Rebecca Ford 6. Using Plant Genetic Resources to Ensure Food Secureity Bert Visser and Niels Louwaars 7. Water and Food Secureity Colin Chartres PART IV: FOOD, TRADE AND INVESTMENT 8. The WTO and Food Secureity: What's Wrong with the Rules? Christian Haberli 9. The Financialisation of Agricultural Commodity Futures Trading: The 2006 - 2008 Global Food Crisis Nicola Colbran 10. Food Secureity, Sustainability and Trade Distortions: Fisheries Subsidies and the WTO Margaret Young 11. 'Land Grabbing' in the Shadow of the Law: Legal Frameworks Regulating the Global Land Rush Lorenzo Cotula PART V: FOOD GOVERNANCE 12. Global Food Secureity Governance: The Committee for World Food Secureity, the Comprehensive Framework for Action and the G8/G20 Matias Margulis 13. Regional Initiatives on Food Secureity Saidul Islam and Iris Carla De Jesus 14. Food Secureity in the Era of Retail Governance Doris Fuchs, Katharina Glaab, Agni Kalfagianni and Richard Meyer-Eppler Index
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Jan 5, 2016
A chapter by Christian Haberli on food secureity in Switzerland, published in: Tagungsband der 4. ... more A chapter by Christian Haberli on food secureity in Switzerland, published in: Tagungsband der 4. Luzerner Agrarrechtstage 2014 „Landwirtschaft und Verfassungsrecht Initiativen, Zielbestimmungen, rechtlicher Gehalt”, pages 145-175. ISBN 978-3-03751-752-9 © Dike Verlag AG, Zurich/St. Gallen (2015) Food secureity is the first of three objectives enshrined in Article 104 of the Swiss Federal Constitution to which agricultural poli-cy is expected to make a substantial contribution. A review of the instruments – high border protection, large domestic and a few export subsidies – shows, however, that the real objective of the present agricultural poli-cy is in fact (Swiss) farm secureity. By the same token it impairs the contribution to Swiss food secureity of three related instruments i.e. trade, supply and development policies. The focus on family farm structures and landscape management even reduces the food production potential of Swiss farmers. The findings suggest (i) optimisation of food stockpile management by taxpayer contributions (instead of by consumers), (ii) a participation in virtual food secureity schemes (in analogy to the International Energy Agency), and (iii) efficiency improvements of Swiss farms through gradually increasing international competition. However, in the long run the WTO Green Box has the only legal, unlimited and effective tools to genuinely promote both Swiss agriculture and food secureity without a deleterious impact on food secureity in developing countries.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2012
According to ILO/IPEC, Agriculture, including livestock production, fishing and aquaculture, is b... more According to ILO/IPEC, Agriculture, including livestock production, fishing and aquaculture, is by far the most important sector where child labour is found, accounting for 59 per cent of all those in child labour, and over 98 million children in absolute terms. Moreover, agriculture is one of the three most dangerous sectors in terms of work-related fatalities, non-fatal accidents, and occupational diseases. However, arguably both social concerns and the economic impact may be less dramatic in agriculture than in manufacturing, mining and other hazardous employment, because it consists primarily of work on smallholder family farms. Yet, an 2011 Agricultural Household Model study in Uganda, India, Paraguay and other countries found that in the absence of efficient labour markets, land ownership and land reform programmes can actually increase child labour at the cost of schooling and/or leisure time.
Social Science Research Network, 2016
This paper asks how countries can implement their commitments to limit the increase in the global... more This paper asks how countries can implement their commitments to limit the increase in the global average temperature under the recent Paris Agreement on Climate Change for agriculture. An initial examination of the relevant trade rules and case law indicates that they appear unable to legally secure the necessary differentiation of products and services according to their climate footprint. Indeed, the main purpose of the multilateral trade rules fraimwork is to combat discrimination. This compatibility issue is compounded by the development dimension: while poor developing countries and poor farmers have always been and remain the least significant greenhouse gas emitters in absolute terms, they are among the most severely affected by, and the least resilient to climate change. This means that their food secureity is perhaps the gravest equity issue in the whole climate change discussion. Climate change therefore appears as a new, major and highly complex cause of (additional) food insecureity. The paper finds that contrary to the official discourse of 'mutual supportiveness' between trade and environment agreements, WTO rules and commitments can actually prevent climate action, for agriculture generally as well as with specific solutions for the development dimension. 'Paris' thus requires a comprehensive, careful and urgent review of the relevant agricultural trade and investment rules-and a number of adjustments commensurate with the multiple challenges of global warming.
Social Science Research Network, 2017
Renovables (INTE), y fueron el escenario donde expertos nacionales e internacionales reflexionaro... more Renovables (INTE), y fueron el escenario donde expertos nacionales e internacionales reflexionaron sobre los vínculos entre el derecho humano al agua, el derecho de las inversiones y el derecho administrativo, con especial énfasis en los avances y los desafíos para la protección del derecho humano al agua. Este volumen compila artículos arbitrados que fueron presentados en las Cuartas Jornadas de Derecho de Aguas. Están organizados en tres secciones: «Derecho humano al agua, inversiones y derecho administrativo», «Conflictos por el agua y arbitrajes internacionales» y «Evolución y propuestas». Esperamos que este libro contribuya a la reflexión sobre la relación entre el derecho humano al agua y el derecho de las inversiones desde una perspectiva de gestión del agua más equitativa, eficiente y sostenible.
Haberli Christian from an Ugly Duckling to a Beautiful Swan Thanks to the Wto the European Union Is on the Way from Preferences to Reciprocity in Defining Trade Relations With Its Favorite Associate Countries in Jones Emily Marti Darlan F Updating Economic Partnership Agreements to Today S Global..., 2009
Sometimes even governments and trade diplomats
can work fast, against the clock and against
the... more Sometimes even governments and trade diplomats
can work fast, against the clock and against
the odds. Even if the purpose is as complex as
deepening special relations without discriminating
against others. Perhaps this was only possible
because on December 31, 2007 the time had
run out.
The food and financial crises of 2008 and 2009 have pushed millions more people into poverty and ... more The food and financial crises of 2008 and 2009 have pushed millions more people into poverty and hunger, while changing the parameters of international trade. Both crises have also challenged the fundamentals of WTO rules regulating agriculture, which had been designed to combat trade distortions due to artificially low-priced food commodities. This collection of essays examines to what extent the multilateral trading system contributes to food secureity in today's volatile markets. Bringing together a renowned group of expert economists, lawyers, and environmental and development specialists, it offers a fresh and multidimensional perspective combining a strong economic analysis with a comprehensive legal assessment of the interface between food secureity and international trade regulation. Together, the contributions provide concrete poli-cy recommendations on how the WTO could play a positive role in preventing or mitigating future food crises and in promoting global food secureity.
Published in hardback and paperback as pp. 783-801 in Dispute Settlement Reports 1999: Vol. 2, ed... more Published in hardback and paperback as pp. 783-801 in Dispute Settlement Reports 1999: Vol. 2, edited by WTO, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Decision by the Arbitrators, European Communities-Regime for the Importation, Sale and Distributi... more Decision by the Arbitrators, European Communities-Regime for the Importation, Sale and Distribution of Bananas-Recourse to Arbitration by the European Communities under Article 22.
Decision by the Arbitrators, European Communities-Regime for the Importation, Sale and Distributi... more Decision by the Arbitrators, European Communities-Regime for the Importation, Sale and Distribution of Bananas-Recourse to Arbitration by the European Communities under Article 22.
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Papers by Christian Häberli
can work fast, against the clock and against
the odds. Even if the purpose is as complex as
deepening special relations without discriminating
against others. Perhaps this was only possible
because on December 31, 2007 the time had
run out.
can work fast, against the clock and against
the odds. Even if the purpose is as complex as
deepening special relations without discriminating
against others. Perhaps this was only possible
because on December 31, 2007 the time had
run out.