This document describes the TED coding format in detail and provides an example of a coded document. Also see the actual cases for examples. Also use the TED template.
THE TED CODING SCHEME
A. IDENTIFICATION
The identification categories provide some introductory and
basic information about the case. This includes an abstract of the
case issue, a full description of the case and its history, a
listing of related literature on the subject, a cross-reference of
related cases in TED, and the name of the draft author of the case
study.
1. The Issue
This category provides a short description or abstract of the
case and it particular relevance to trade and environment. It
includes reference to the actors involved, the species and
product(s) in question and the most current status of the case.
2. Description
This is a descriptive report detailing the how, when, and why
of the case and lays out the key issues, parties, and events that
are relevant to understanding the basis for the case. The
description covers the key four clusters and their attributes as
well as discuss the real or perceived impacts. It includes many of
the items discussed below and where there is categorical
information that relates to the description. These other
categories provide reference for some information that may be
detailed in other categories.
3. Related Cases
This category suggests some related cases, but the best source
of relevant literature is the TED software. This category includes
a cross-reference to related cases by using TED key words found in
Appendix C. For example, if the environmental problem is species
loss and the animal is a bird, then BIRD (a TED software searchable
key word), would be a useful cross-reference. This would allow one
to identify other case where the issue involved trade in birds.
Similarly, if the forum for the case was the European Community
(EC), then other EC cases could be identified. Using the software,
it would then be possible to identify and examine only the EC or
BIRD cases through the filters.
Related Cases (1): _________________________
(2): _________________________
(3): _________________________
Key words (1): _________________________
(2): _________________________
(3): _________________________
4. Draft Author
The category names the draft author of the case study.
B. LEGAL Cluster
There are several categories that constitute the legal
cluster, attributes pertaining to the legal standing in the case.
First, the discourse and status of the case is described, followed
by the forum and scope, the breadth of the decision, and the legal
standing of the case.
5. Discourse and Status
The general discourse in a case can be either one of agreement
(a negotiated treaty) or disagreement (a legal proceeding),
although in the world there are certainly many in-between areas.
The type tells something about the degree of consensus around a
subject indicating that little is actually known about the problem
or that alternative approaches to a solution exist. The type of
discourse also reveals something about where rules do and do not
exist. A simple indicator of the stage of a case towards
resolution -- that is towards a treaty or a decision -- can be
created by setting a general scale reflecting the legal status of
a case. The scale will range from an allegation to a case in
progress to a completed case reflecting a linear process.
Agree [AGR] or Disagree [DIS] :_______________________
Stage (ALLEGE, INPROG, or COMP): :_______________________
6. Forum and Scope
The category identifies the forum to which the case applies.
Most forums are also related to domestic law which enacts
international agreements. It also includes any related legislation
or regulation. The category also identifies the forum using a
four-step ordinal basis for dimensionalization: (4) multi-national
organizations, such as the United Nations, the GATT, or the parties
to the CITES; (3) for regional organizations such as the European
Community or the Organization of African states; (2) bi-lateral
organizations involved such as the U.S.-Canada Fisheries Commission
and the U.S.-Mexican Boundary Water Agreement; and (1) uni-lateral
or national organizations involved such as the U.S. Congress or the
federal government of Germany.
Forum : _________________________
Scope (UNILAT, BILAT, REGION, and MULTI) : ___________________
7. Decision Breadth
The number of parties involved in a case says something about
the nature of the case itself and this category is dimensionalized
by the number of members potentially impact (legally) by the case.
The continuum here will be the number of sovereign states involved
in the case, with a low of one and a maximum of all the countries
in the world. For example, the agreement in Rio on limiting carbon
dioxide emissions was signed by 175 countries. The GATT
tuna/dolphin case could potentially impact all 100 members,
actually involved about a dozen countries, but in the end was a
case only between Mexico and the United States.
Numbers of Parties Affected: _________________________
8. Legal Standing
The legal standing of the case can exist on several differing
dimensions and levels. Some legal agreement may be in the form of
TREATY, other in national LAW, while still other may be laws or
regulations that are not at the country level but of a locale,
state, province or other unit below the country level (SUBLAW).
The legal standing may in fact have nothing to do with governments
and may be a non-governmental agreement (NGO) involving businesses
or non-profit organizations. Non-legal measures might include
agreements for compensation, such as in the Merck agreement with
BIO of Costa Rica. Custom applies to understandings that do not
have the support of law. Official Memorandums of Understanding
(MOU) between nations will be considered as an international
treaty.
Standing: Treaty, Law, Sublaw, or NGO:___________________
C. GEOGRAPHIC Filters
There are three types of geographic filters. The dimension
her is a geographic representation of the continent, region, and
specific country at issue in the case. First, the biological
domain, conflict site, and area of regulatory impact are shown.
Second, the presence of sub-national factors is indicated.
Finally, the type of bio-geographic area where the conflict occurs
is described.
9. Geography
The site of where trade and environment linkages exist reveals
the complexity and cross-border characteristics of these cases. As
an example, the "Salmon and Herring" dispute between Canada and the
United States (see SALMON case) will be used to describe differing
geographic dimensions relevant to the case. For example, the
United States complained about Canada's requirement that fish
caught legally in Canadian waters be landed and registered on
Canadian soil before it could be exported abroad. Canada argued
that the requirement was a response to over-fishing of the area,
although not by American ships.
During the salmon's migratory travels it passes through these
waters where large fleets of trawlers, many from East Asian
countries, await. Using modern fishing techniques and large scale
netting practices, so many salmon are being caught that the numbers
eventually returning to the inland rivers of North America to spawn
are severely depleted. This is a direct economic resource loss to
the North Americans since 90 percent of the migration path is in
Canadian or American (or both) territory. The United States
countered that effective management need not require landing in
Canada and the net effect of the regulation was a boom for trans-
shipment industries in Canada and an implicit advantage to Canadian
fishermen who were then re-exporting the product just south of the
border in places like Washington state.
The geographic dimensions in a case differ across several
realms, depending on the viewpoint. One viewpoint is from the
species or habitat at risk. The geographic species domain of this
salmon covers the Northern Pacific region, including the inland
rivers of both Canada and the United States, the exclusive economic
zones (EEZs) of Canada and the United States, and international
ocean waters outside Canadian and American EEZs. This domain is
identified by the continental group: North America, South America,
Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
A second viewpoint is where the actual conflict between trade
and the environment is taking place. The geographic conflict site
pinpoints where confrontation between trade and the environment is
occurring. In this instance, the site is in ocean waters inside
the EEZ of Canada. This category shows a locale within the
continental grouping above, usually indicated by either a south,
west, north, or east part of the area. However, there are special
regions that are included, such as Amazonia, the Sahara, the Andes,
or Siberia.
The geographic impact area contrasts with the pinpointing of
the site by covering the areas that are affected by legal
instruments. Since this concerns law related to Canada, then this
would be the area of impact. The case may effect other countries
who demand or supply these products or even other substitutable
products. This choice is limited to a particular country where the
laws will or could take place.
a. Continental Domain (Europe, North America, South America,
Africa, Asia, Polar, Global): _________________________
b. Geographic Site : _________________________
Each continent has a North, South, East and West sector and
are broken down on this basis. Additional landmark areas include
Siberia, the Andes mountains, the Amazon jungle and the Sahara
desert.
c. Geographic Impact : _________________________ (List country)
10. Sub-National Factors
Sometimes the legal measure in the case has a level of
standing below national law. In these cases, the appropriate sub-
country level of jurisdiction is indicated. This might include the
Ontario Beer dispute (see ONTARIO case), where the United States
imposed retaliatory tariffs on Canadian beer, but only that from
the province of Ontario. Likewise, the Dutch ban on imports of
tropical hardwoods (see DUTCHWD case) was actually a locally-
enacted ban that was in contradistinction to the governments, and
the EC's, general policy. The case involving plastic disposal in
a locale in Italy (case #6), also pitted a community against the
EC.
SUB-STATE : ________________ [YES or NO]
11. Type of Habitat
The type of habitat is selected from the following list of
climate types according to Koeppin, which I have amended (see Table
B-1). In addition to Koeppin's five land types, I have added a
sixth group for the oceans and seas. The habitat is the location
of the biological extent of the species or bio-geographic area in
question, as identified in the geography cluster.
HABITAT TYPE: ________________________
(1) HABITAT: TROPICAL RAINY FOREST AND SAVANNA [TROP]
KEY PRODUCTS: Mostly timber cut from virgin forests.
Raw Wood
Semi-Processed Wood Products (Paper and Pulp)
Processed Wood Products (Furniture and Toys)
EXAMPLES: Amazon, Central America and Africa, SouthEast
Asia.
(2) HABITAT: TEMPERATE forest and plains
KEY PRODUCTS: Mostly softwoods.
Raw Wood
Semi-Processed Wood Products (Paper and Pulp)
Processed Wood Products (Furniture and Toys)
Exotic Animals and Birds
EXAMPLES: Southeast U.S., Argentina, south China, Western
Europe.
(3) HABITAT: DRY STEPPES AND DESERTS [DRY]
KEY PRODUCTS: Specialties (fragrances and aromatics).
Sandalwood
Creosote
Joshua Trees
EXAMPLES: Southwest US, Australia, Sahara, Kalahari.
(4) HABITAT: SNOW FORESTS [COOL]
KEY PRODUCTS: Logging, animal harvesting.
Beaver Pelts
Reindeer Hides sand Meats
Raw Wood
Semi-Processed Wood Products (Paper and Pulp)
Processed Wood Products (Furniture and Toys)
EXAMPLES: Siberia, Northern Canada and Alaska, Lapland.
(5) HABITAT: TUNDRA AND ICE CAPS [POLAR]
KEY PRODUCTS: Semi-aquatic mammals.
Seal Skins
Walrus Ivory
EXAMPLE: Antarctica, Greenland.
(6) OCEAN: OCEANS, SEAS, ESTUARIES AND SHELVES [OCEAN]
KEY PRODUCTS: Mollusks, mammals, seaweed, coral reefs.
Seafood products.
Coral reef crafts
Lime
Pet Fish and Fish Tank Decorations
EXAMPLES: Chesapeake Bay, Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean,
the Great Barrier Reef, Caribbean reefs, the
Black Sea.
IV. TRADE Filters
There are a good many types of TRADE filters. This includes
the type of legal measure involved with the trade of the item, the
direct versus indirect impacts, the relation of the trade measure
to the resource impact, the identification of the trade product,
economic impacts of the trade, the sector to which the trade
product belongs, and the leading exporters and importers in the
case issue.
12. Type of Measure
The category identifies the trade or regulatory measure used
to institute the change in social behavior. The decision in a
case, when applicable, will be listed as one of the following types
of measures:
1. Import ban [IMBAN],
2. Export ban [EXBAN],
3. Quota [QUOTA],
4. Subsidy [SUBSIDY],
5. Tariffs and taxes [IMTAX],
6. Import standards [IMSTD],
7. Licensing [LICEN],
8. Orderly marketing agreement [OMA],
9. Countervailing duty/anti-dumping duty [CVDAD],
10. Regulatory standard [REGSTD],
11. Regulatory ban [REGBAN],
12. Intellectual property [IPROP],
13. Administration [ADMIN], or
14. Not applicable [NAPP].
A short description of the implementation of the measure is
provided. If there is more than one measure at work, and this is
not uncommon, this is specified.
Type of Measure: _________________________
13. Direct vs. Indirect Impacts
This field differentiates between cases where the impact on
trade is (a) direct [such as bans on tuna in the GATT dolphin case]
or (b) indirect [such as the Danish recycling regulation]. Both
direct and indirect impacts are considered because the magnitudes
of impact in indirect actions can nevertheless be substantial both
for the environment and for trade. They are, however, often
different in how the impact occurs. The GATT Tuna-Dolphin dispute
(see TUNA case), is said to be direct because it would by itself
substantially change the practices by which concomitant dolphin
kills occur. The Danish Beer Bottle re-cycling dispute (see DANBR
case), is said to be indirect because the case applied to
environmental law, which in turn had trade impacts. It is evident
from this construct that the assumption is that often trade
measures are direct impacts while environmental regulations are
indirect. This is because trade measures are applied "at-the-
border" while environmental regulations are applied "inside-the-
border."
Impact Direct [DIR] or Indirect [IND]: ______________
14. Relation of Measure to Impact
A slightly different specification would relate the trade
measure to the resource impact to determine the type of link that
is made between trade and the environment. The dolphin/tuna case
provides several examples. The trade measure in question was
related to the treatment of tuna imports, which were in fact
banned. At the same time, legislation also existed that banned the
import of dolphin as well, although this law was not in question.
At the same, the ban was extended to related products, such as
shrimp, that reflected some economic and some political
associations. Finally, the particular measure was not directed at
the treatment of the dolphin as a product itself, but how in the
process of catching tuna the dolphin were being killed. Obviously
the measures can affect the resource in more than one way.
Using the above example, indicate for each of the below
categories first whether these factors are evident in the case [YES
or NO] and if "yes" describe the environmental entity being related
to the economic product. How the category relates to a product or
problem is also indicated in parentheses, with the relevant
identifier mnemonic.
a. Directly Related to Product : _________________________
b. Indirectly Related to Product : _________________________
c. Not Related to Product : _________________________
d. Related to Process : _________________________
15. Trade Product Identification
This category describes the product or products, including
whether it is a raw, intermediate or final product type. The
product can also be concorded to the Harmonized Tariff System
schedule to discover trade values. Once a match with categories is
found (and this may even be a certain percentage of some basket
category) then total flows as well as leading exporters and
importers can be identified. This item would be developed in
tandem with some type of automated data delivery system as well as
consultations with individuals from U.S. Department of Commerce and
the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The reporting group
should in theory constitute a core group of exporters and importers
of the products in question.
Product Type : _________________________
16. Economic Data
To the extent possible associated data and statistics on other
economic indicators such as employment, output, and financial
indicators are included. This information will probably be diverse
but will help in relating the trade to the larger economy. In this
way only can the actual impacts be determined. The breadth of
these industrial categories can of course vary widely. Feel free
to add other indicators. The SIC from the industry can be
discovered or company profiles of an industry can be obtained from
Dun and Bradstreet. Studies citing economic estimates of impact
would also be included. In some cases, very little information
about the economic characteristics of the resource in question will
be known.
Industry Output ($) :_________________________
Employment :_________________________
17. Degree of Competitive Impact
In what sense do trade and the environment relate in an
operational sense? The question is really one of valuation, say
some. The price of a good includes a variety of costs which may
include the cost of implementing a certain type of environmental
regulation. For example, if the seller of wood is required to
replant a tree for every one cut, then the cost of that new
planting will of course be passed on to the consumer. Thus, one
can conceptualize protecting the environment as a price-effect and
probably a conceptual kin to various non-tariff barriers (NTBs)
since few environmental-related trade measures use the tariff. One
way then is to take the viewpoint of the trade analyst (largely
economist) in seeing how the environment relates to trade. The
problem is that these barriers are notoriously difficult to
quantify. In some cases where the impact is difficult to
determine, the degree of impact is indicated only as LOW, MEDIUM,
and HIGH.
There are three basic approaches to investigating NTBs which
utilize a number of foci for analysis. The first is the analysis
of the economic consequences of NTBs. These analyses, usually
taking a microeconomic approach, focus on the impacts of NTBs on
demand and supply curves, prices and quantities of imports, and
attributable welfare losses. Dinopolous and Kreinin, for example,
examined the effects of the U.S.-Japan Voluntary Export Restraint
(VER) agreement on autos. They estimated the cost per job saved in
the U.S. automobile industry at about $180,000 per job.
A second approach is to examine the trade coverage of NTBs.
These analyses attempt to describe the trade coverage constituted
by NTBs, the frequency and characteristics of the NTBs, and
country/product breakdowns for the NTBs. One example of this
approach is the work of Carol and Bela Balassa who tabulated major
trade barriers erected by developed countries. From this
tabulation, the authors described the scope of trade covered by
barriers and trends in that coverage. Deardorff and Stern also use
coverage as a measure of protection, "adjusted by endogenous
tariff-equivalent variables to reduce, by that fraction, the
sensitivity of imports to tariff and other changes."
The third approach pursues the quantitative valuation of NTBs,
most often expressed in terms of the ad valorem tariff equivalent
(AVTE) of the barrier. Edward Leamer notes that coverage ratios
"are suggestive of the severity of nontariff barriers, but not all
nontariff barriers can be measured, and not all barriers are
equally restrictive." Leamer analyzed the differences between
measures for "predicted" and "actual" trade flows and attributed
the difference to NTBs, thereby allowing the measurement of their
impact.
Cases will often involve measures to distort trade flows by
restriction. Cases will also involve the use of promotion, via
subsidies, as another means of altering behavior that attempts to
achieve the same result. These two types of distortions can be
called "defensive" and "offensive" protection, respectively.
Cost ($) : _________________________
Coverage (%) : _________________________
Price Effect (%) : _________________________
Competitive Effect (%) : _________________________
18. Industry Sector
Using the basic structure of the Standard Industrial Code
(SIC), this category identifies which sector to which this
particular products belongs.
Categories in the Standard Industrial Code (SIC)
Mining (M)
Metal [METAL]
Coal [COAL]
Oil and Gas [OILGAS]
Stone and Earth Minerals [STONE]
Utilities [UTIL]
Other [MOTH]
Durable Manufacturing (D)
Lumber and Products [WOOD]
Furniture and Fixtures [FURN]
Primary Metals [PRIMET]
Fabricated Metal Products [FABMET]
Non-electrical Machinery [NEMACH]
Electrical Machinery [EMACH]
Other (DOTH]
Non-Durable Manufacturing (N)
Foods [FOOD]
Tobacco [TOBAC]
Textiles and Apparel [TEXT]
Paper and Products [PAPER]
Printing and Publishing [PRINT]
Chemicals [CHEM]
Petroleum [PETROL]
Rubber and Plastics [PLAST]
Leather [LEATH]
Other [NOTH]
Services (S)
Tourism [TOUR]
Other [SOTH]
19. Exporter and Importer
This category identifies the exporter in question as well as
the importer. Based on the trade product identification from
earlier, relevant data on bi-lateral or global trade trends are
given. For comparison, world exporters and importers of the
product are included in the write-up.
Case Exporter : _________________________
Case Importer : _________________________
Leading Exporters (US $): _________________________
Leading Importers (US $): _________________________
V. ENVIRONMENT Clusters
There are five ENVIRONMENT attributes in this cluster. This
includes the type of environmental problem, the name and number of
species involved (scientific names are included where possible),
the degree of resource impact, the urgency of the problem, and the
substitutes that have been suggested to solve or ameliorate the
problem.
20. Environmental Problem Type
This field would divide the cases into six categories that may
not be mutually exclusive. The first three groups belong to a
subset of resource concentration problems, the second to a subset
called resource depletion problems. The types of problems are
divided into three categories: source, sink, and global problems.
Choose the most important, but alos discuss other imapcts.
Environmental Problem Type:_________________________
Types of Source and Sink Problems
SOURCE PROBLEMS
Habitat
Deforestation [DEFOR]
General [HABIT]
Coral Loss [CORAL]
Bio-diversity Loss [BIODIV]
Species Loss
Land [SPLL]
Air [SPLA]
Sea [SPLS]
SINK PROBLEMS
Pollution
Air [POLA]
Land [POLL]
Sea [POLS]
Waste (list product)
Air [POLA]
Land [POLL]
Sea [POLS]
GLOBAL PROBLEMS
Global Problems
Global Warming [GWARM]
Ozone Loss [OZONE]
These are general categories that allow for a comparison of
which types of problems are occurring with the most frequency. One
could also chart how the importance of these types of problems has
tracked over time.
21. Species Information
The cases may reflect concern over the health of one or more
species of plant or animal and the number in concern can be
identified for each case. A narrow interpretation of species will
be used. Most cases are fairly simple, when relevant, and involve
one species, usually fairly narrowly defined such as the spotted
owl, the eastern Pacific dolphin, or the snail darter. In other
cases, several species may be included under a more general class
of animal. For example, the CITES ban on wildlife from Thailand
applies to a wide variety of species and sub-species.
Cases can also be large-scale problems which threaten a
multitude of species. For example, oil spills might threaten
hundreds of species and global climate change would probably
threaten millions. Habitat use cases can have substantial impact.
For example, the Colorado River salinity case probably had
substantial impact on many species that live in the river and in
the Gulf of California. Likewise the Finnish arsenic dumping case
(where the proposed site was in the middle of the South Atlantic)
would have probably threatened species that we are only now
discovering on the bottom of the ocean floor.
When the case relates to a habitat rather than to a particular
species, a measure for the degree of bio-diversity in species type
for the region should be provided. Also, any data on species
endemism (uniqueness to area) should also be included. For sources
on this consult, for example, E.O. Wilson (Ed.), Bio-Diversity.
For data on diveristy, consult the annual World Resources, World
Resources, Appendix Tables. The IUCN status categories are
explained below.
IUCN Status Categories
EXTINCT: Species not definitely lcoated in the wild
during the past 50 yeaers (criterion used by CITES).
ENDANGered: Taxa in danger of extinction and who
survival is unlikely if the causal factors continue
operating. Included are taxa whose numbers have been
reduced to a criticial level or whose inhabitatns have
been so drastically reduced that they are deemed to be in
immediate danger of extinction.
VULNERable: Taxa believed likely to move into the
Endangered category in the near future if the caausal
factors continue operating. Included are taxa of which
most or all the populations are decreasing becdause of
over-expolitation, extensive destruction of habitat or
other environmental disturbance, taxa with popualtions
that have been seriusly depleted and whose ultimate
security has not yet been assured; and taxa with
populations that are still abundant but are under severe
threat from severee adverse factors throughout their
range.
RARE: Taxa with small world populations that are not
present Endangered or Vulnerable, but are at risk.
You will find information in World Resources, World Resources
Institute annual report on bi-diversity. (Tables in the back.)
MAtrch the species with the species shown for levels. User "Higer
Plants" for habitat problems. For ocean cases, there is another
table that shows levels of seas stocks by ocean area.
Name of Species : _________________________
Type: : _________________________
Diversity: : _________________________
IUCN Status: : _________________________
22. Impact and Effect
The types of environmental problems noted earlier can be
lumped into two categories: resource concentration problems
(pollution, global problems, and waste) and resource depletion
problems (bio-diversity, resource conservation and species loss).
These are also called sink and source problems, respectively.
Either can serve as a continuum of intensity and thus represent the
taking of too many resources out of the environment as opposed to
putting too many resources back in it. Even if volume of resource
loss or pollution were readily available, comparison across
resources and across pollutants is often quite difficult. The
continuum will reflect evaluatively-coded measures of the impact of
the resource depletion or pollution as simply high (3), medium (2),
and low (1). The effect is how the action translates into
environmental changes: structural, product, scale, and regulatory.
A second measure under this item is the type of effect. This
measure was devised by Candace Stevens of the OECD where there are
four attributes: structure, scale, regulatory, and product
effects.
Impact [HIGH, MEDIUM, and LOW]: :________________
Effect [PROD, SCALE, REGUL, or STRCT]:_________________
23. Urgency and Lifetime
It is fair to assume the more serious the environmental
problem, the more restrictive the trade measure needs to be in
order to solve the problem. Whether this is in fact the case is
unknown. One way to operationalize an indicator to measure the
urgency of a problem is, in the case of a species, to use the
number of years until the species will be extinct given current
rates of loss or usage. The idea would then be the fewer the years
the more the attention given to its protection. Obviously, this
approach is not without interpretative difficulty. Surely some
species are more protected than others merely because they are more
identifiable to humans. One would assume a greater outpouring of
emotion to protect a panda bear or a dolphin than a remote species
of rat or snake. The years to extinction can be further understood
by the lifetime of the species and therefore the number of
generations that will survive at current rates of loss or usage.
1. Urgency (Years to Extinction) : _________________
2. Lifetime of Species (years) : _________________
24. Substitutes
For some of the products in the cases substitutes are
available which could help in alleviating the case's environmental
problem. For example, the horn of the water buffalo is being
substituted for the horn of the rhino, largely because the former
are much more abundant. By the same token, eagle feathers taken
from carcasses are being handed over to Native Americans to avoid
the need to kill eagles. Finally, scientists are hard at work
attempting to replicate substances found in various products so
that the actual chemical itself can be synthesized. This is the
case for bird's nest soup and bear bile.
The substitutes generally fall into six areas:
o RECYC for more recycling of inputs,
o SYNTH for development of synthetic alternatives,
o BIODG for use of biodegradable products instead,
o LIKE for switching to similar products, and
o CONSV for greater conservation efforts.
SUBSTITUTE: _____________________________
VI. OTHER Factors
There are three other factors. Not whether these factors
exist to a significant degree in the case by a YES or NO.
25. Culture
Is the culture of either the exporter or the importer related
to the issue or case in some way that significantly influences the
approach to the solution or the cause of the problem? This
category provides some detail about culture's role in the trade and
environment issue.
What is an example? Two soups provide examples of trade and
environment problems caused by culture. Shark's fin soup has long
been a prized Chinese delicacy and is said to contain certain
"energizing" properties for the consumer. There is little
scientific evidence to support this claim, but this is not to say
none exists. The current demand and desire for shark's fin soup is
enormous. The taking of and trading in shark for soup has produced
at least two environmental problems.
First, so many sharks of all kinds are being taken in off
shore waters that many parts of Asia and other parts of the world
have significantly depleted their shark populations. North America
remains one of the few places left with abundant sharks, in part
because we generally do not eat shark. As a result, fishing boats
under many flags fish the Caribbean and the Pacific for shark fin
to export to Asia. Most exports of shark's fin for soup go to
Taiwan, Japan, China, Singapore and Korea. Ironically, some is
prepared into canned soup which is exported from Asia back to the
west coast of the United States and Canada, where sizeable Asian
populations reside. This has become such a problem that the U.S.
National Marine Fisheries Service has imposed quotas on the taking
of shark. The shark's loss as scavenger's leaves a fragile eco-
system out of balance (see SHARK case).
The second problem is the manner in which the fins are taken.
Ordinarily, the top and two side fins are removed and the animal is
dumped overboard. Powerless to move, the animal sinks to the
bottom and suffocates since it needs to move through the water to
breathe. This is of course inhumane, but there have also been
rumors that sharks dumped in coastal areas have floated to the
shore and attacked swimmers. This would probably reduce tourist
trade in the process.
The second example is bird's nest soup, a revered concoction
that is said to contain cures for a variety of ailments, ranging
from rheumatism to lethargy. The soup is made from nests of the
swift, specifically the bird's saliva which holds the nest
together. The soup containers advertise that it is "capable of
restoring equilibrium to the human body," but the curative
properties are not generally accepted by the medical community.
Several environmental groups are now pushing to add the
swift's nest to the list of endangered species under the Convention
on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The
reason: demand for the swift's nest has grown so high that China,
in part driven by rapidly rising incomes, is now a huge net
importer of bird's nest mixture, especially from Indonesia,
Malaysia and Vietnam. So great is the demand that the swift nest
hunters no longer wait for the swift to vacate the nest before
taking it. Now, the chicks or eggs in the nest are simply disposed
of. Swifts, who travel across many national borders in Southeast
Asia, are now in peril in many places (see case #49, SWIFT).
These two examples show the difficulty in solving the problem.
The value of the soups is deeply ingrained in Chinese (and other)
cuisines and in their very culture, via the customary nature of
these practices and the value placed on them by the culture. There
was no problem as long as there were ample sharks and swift's
nests, but changes in population and income have altered the basic
landscape via trade.
The introduction of culture into cases of trade and
environment is clearly not limited to Chinese or Asian cultures.
Western cultural values are at play in many cases here, including
the European ban on furs of animals caught in leg-traps, or
American efforts to protect dolphins and bears. No doubt the focus
on these animals is driven by a generation of Americans who grew up
watching Flipper and Smokey the Bear on television. Western
cultural impact in trade and environment issues is probably more
indirect in nature. For example, land use changes driven by
Western (mostly American) appetite's for hamburgers have led to the
clearing of vast parts of Costa Rica's tropical forests and the
fencing of the Veldt in Botswana.
CULTURE : ________________ [YES or NO]
26. Human Rights
Are human rights an issue in the case? Usually this factor
will be exporter-specific since it is the transfer of some resource
from one location to another that is at the heart of the problem.
Many examples of human rights' role in the trade and environment
case are related to more general habitat problems. Many
deforestation problems are related to human rights because
ordinarily it is not the people who live in or near the forests
that are felled who are the major beneficiaries. This is the
situation in Indonesia (see IN301 case) and Brazil (see BRLOG case)
with respect to deforestation there. This category then describe
the human rights role.
HUMAN RIGHTS : ________________ [YES or NO]
27. Trans-Boundary Issues
Is the case also an instance of a trans-boundary problem
between two or more countries that has trade and environmental
implications? If so, this category describes what parts of the
problems are trans-national. The instances are thought to have a
direct, but significant impact on or from trade. Many times any
disputes are between developed and lesser developed countries,
where the regulatory schemes in the two markedly differ. This
group includes cases along the border between the United States and
Mexico (see LAPAZ and SANDIEGO cases) and between East and West
Europe (see SULFER case).
TRANS-BORDER : ________________ [YES or NO]
28. Relevant Literature
This is a bibliography where reference to the case, or to
similar cases, can be found. Where applicable, the report includes
key words used in electronic retrieval systems.
These are some of the screens in TED software and how the viewer will see the key word choices.
Sample Case Coding
CASE NUMBER: 6
CASE MNEMONIC: BEETLE
CASE NAME: Beetle Trade and Protection
A. IDENTIFICATION
1. The Issue
2. Description
3. Related Cases
MONARCH Case