The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1995 pursuant to the Uruguay Round of negotiations under the GATT to ensure the “optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development. During the Doha Round of negotiations, the WTO discussed ways to promote global trade in vulnerable natural resources, such as forest products and endangered fish species.

Internet Assignment Find out what environmentalists have to say about the WTO’s balancing of free trade and preservation of resources by checking out such groups as the World Wildlife Fund (http://www.wwf.org), the Friends of the Earth (http://www.foe.org), or Greenpeace

(http://www.greenpeace.org). How do the proponents of free trade respond?