International Law, Trade, Environment and Sovereignty : Reference to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Sovereignty is a key matter in international law. Due to new problems and demands, the density of international institutions has risen in the new world order bringing in new international norms that are intrusive on each other. This study focused on international law and its relationship to trade, environment and sovereignty, with key concentration on The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The key theme was’’ What are the Contradictions between different approaches towards the environment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA)?The study focused on existing literature and interviewing key stakeholders on the subject matter across the Spectrum from Lawyers, Economists and Development Practioner. The findings indicate that multilateral trade and environmental agreements each have role to play in achieving sustainable future. In addition, these agreements in one way or the other infringes on the sovereign rights of States since they cut across many jurisdictions. They key challenge is to find a common ground on preserving the notion of sovereignty as well as the requirements for the provisions in international law and instruments.The recommendation is that more research need to be carried in the same field from where this current study has stopped to give more insights on the relationships identified and studied above