International Graduate School of Social Sciences

process either as a complainant or a respondent. As shown in , in terms of the number of cases involved, Japan ranks seventh as a complaining party and fifth as a responding party. While not reaching the level of the two giants in the WTO system-the United States and the European Communities (EC), Japan's involvement in the dispute settlement system appears to be moderately active, commensurate with its economic and political power in the world. 4

China became a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001, after more than 15 years of difficult negotiations. This paper reviews the negotiating history of China's accession with special emphasis on the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, which deals with standards and technical regulations as well as conformity assessment procedures. Because of the u nique domestic system in China, the negotiations regarding the TBT Agreement posed special difficulties both for China and the existing Members of the WTO. A close examination of the negotiation process reveals that China's negotiating position was a sophisticated one, with full understanding of the cutting edge of the developing jurisprudence in the WTO.

process either as a complainant or a respondent. As shown in , in terms of the number of cases involved, Japan ranks seventh as a complaining party and fifth as a responding party. While not reaching the level of the two giants in the WTO system-the United States and the European Communities (EC), Japan's involvement in the dispute settlement system appears to be moderately active, commensurate with its economic and political power in the world. 4

The Ghodaghodi Lake Complex is a Ramsar site, Nepal’s first bird sanctuary, and has significant ecological and economic values. The lake complex is in the western part of the lowland of the Terai region. Numerous studies indicate a relation between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), land use, and land cover with plant diversity. However, the association between terrestrial plant diversity and NDVI in the Ghodaghodi Lake Complex is unknown but has important implications due to potential land use changes. We aimed to understand the relationship between plant diversity and NDVI in the Ghodaghodi Lake Complex. We performed a vegetation survey using a simple random sampling methodology. Shannon–Wiener’s diversity index (H’) was calculated from the field data, and Landsat images were used to compare land use and land cover changes and calculate NDVI values for 2000 and 2022. The image classification shows that forest cover in April and December 2000 was 71.1% and 58.5%, re...