The Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Trade: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

In line with the development of international trade, environmental concerns have arisen as a global problem. International trade has the potential to increase environmental externalities such as transboundary pollution, deforestation, transportation and production relocation avoiding environmental standards. The share of agricultural goods in total export reached 15% in 2017. Since 2002, the proportion of unprocessed agricultural products have more than doubled, while the volume of processed goods in global trade has tripled. Despite the importance of agricultural trade worldwide, the number of studies exploring the trade-agriculture-environment nexus has so far been limited. This paper aims to provide an overview of the environmental impacts of agricultural trade based on the international economics literature published in recent years by way of a systematic literature review. Results suggest that most recent environmental studies do not view extended trade or trade liberalization in agriculture favourably. Only a limited number of papers state that a country or countries’ environment could benefit from agricultural trade, and only a few researchers have found that agricultural trade did not have any significant influence at all, or have instead found the effects on the environment to be ambiguous. Finally, the research reveals the most important consequences of pollution and offers potential solutions.

Testing the Role of Trade on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Portugal

“…There are several studies on the evaluation of the Portuguese economy and environmental issues, in which Fuinhas and Marques (2012), Leitão (2014), Shahbaz et al (2016), or more recently Balsalobre-Lorente et al (2021) assess the relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions. Balogh and Jámbor (2020) showed that the association between trade impact on the environment is ambiguous. In this context, we need to revisit some theoretical models to understand trade intensity's effect on the environment's quality or climate change.…”

How trade can drive inclusive and sustainable vegetable sector development in Africa: options for Dutch policy support

“…Moreover, trade can exacerbate environmental challenges associated with food production, land use and climate change, by promoting intensive production methods (Balogh and Jámbor 2020).…”

“…International trade has the potential to increase environmental externalities such as transboundary pollution, deforestation, transportation, and production relocation avoiding environmental standards, as it promotes specialisation and reliance on more input-intensive production methods. Trade acceleration and trade liberalisation are considered as significant drivers of environmental impacts in the literature (see Balogh and Jámbor 2020).…”

Improving Soybean Production Under Light Supplementation at Field - A Case Study

“…Also, a constantly growing human population and the dangerous climate changes (global warming) are challenges for all human activities, especially the crop activity [14][15][16]. This intensi cation of the agricultural activities also came with increased agricultural pressure on the environment resources [17].…”