EU Forest WatchIssue # 22 March 1998Contents:
March Parliamentary Questions
Restructuring in the European Commission1. New service for development aid and external relations
The European Commission is creating a new technical and administrative service, 'Relex', for all Directorates-General dealing with external relations and development cooperation.
Policy-makers from DGs I, IA, IB, and VIII will stay where they are, while 650 technical and administrative staff will join the new service.
The objective of the shake-up is to harmonise procedures and foster coherence between different parts of the Commission. This is necessary due to existing differences between for example DGs IB and VIII in project management and approval procedures. But many officials fear that it will create a lack of communication between decision-makers and implementors as they will no longer work in the same building.
The service's original French acronym, SCOOP, has been dropped and ECHO, the EC Humanitarian Office, is no longer involved.
The process of setting up the service will start in mid-April and is unlikely to be in place until September. Philippe Soubestre, the current deputy director-general of DG VIII (Development), will be the Relex director-general.
2. Changes in DG XI Jim Currie, the new director-general for DG XI (Environment), has proposed a number of changes which will affect the way DG XI deals with forest issues. For example, certification will be left to other DGs while unit D4 will now deal with forests mostly in their capacity to combat climate change.
NGOs have written a joint letter asking Mr Currie not to forget the crucial role DG XI has in defending the environmental interests of forests within the Commission.
National Parliaments support FSCThe Netherlands The Dutch Parliament has approved a resolution to make labelling of sustainably produced timber mandatory from 2000. Sustainable management is defined using Forest Stewardship Council (or similar) standards. The Dutch minister of trade has indicated opposition to the proposal.
Flanders (Belgium) The Flemish Parliament has approved a resolution to develop criteria for sustainable forest management based on FSC standards. The resolution requires all Flemish forests to be managed according to these criteria by 2002, with a special label for timber.
On 17 March, Members of the European Parliament visited one of three recently FSC -certified Flemish forests: the Zonienwoud, near Brussels. The visit was hosted by the Flemish forest authority. During a walk and picnic, the Flemish policy for sustainable forest management and details of the FSC certification process were discussed, using different parts of the forest as illustrations.
WWF-World Bank Alliance presentation in BrusselsOn 11 March representatives of the World Bank-WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use gave two presentations in Brussels. The morning session was attended by European Commission officials. NGOs, industry and forest owner representatives attended the afternoon meeting.
Background The alliance was set up after the 'Rio + 5' meeting in June last year. By 2005, it aims to achieve: 1. an additional 50 million hectares of protected forest areas, 2. 200 million hectares of in-dependently certified forests.
Outcome of the meeting The discussion with the Commission focused on the relevance of the alliance's targets to European forests. One official insisted that certification was not necessary in Europe as these forests are already 'the best managed in the world'. It was pointed out that the World Bank needs to address the issue of coherence, given that many of its loans have caused forest destruction and degradation.
NGOs queried the Bank on current forest policy changes and its growing involvement with the private sector. The alliance was originally announced without prior consultation with other NGOs nor any plan for its implementation. However, a Work Plan is due to come out next month, and NGOs expressed the wish to be informed of this Plan and involved in its development. The alliance is currently appealing to governments and the EU for funds.
EU position for CSD VI and CBD - CoP 4At the Environment Council of 23 March, the EU decided on its position1 for two upcoming international meetings: the sixth session of the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD VI) and the Fourth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD - CoP 4).
For CoP 4 of the CBD, the EU has produced a report 1 detailing its implementation of the Convention to date. The Environment Council made many recommendations, including:
1. Forest biological diversity • Actions should be coherent at all levels, eg with the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Strategy and the Pan-European Process for the Protection of Forests in Europe.
• CoP 4 should endorse a rolling 3 year work programme on forests which takes account of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests' action points.
2. Review of CBD's operations This should consider how to involve major groups, given their special knowledge and importance in implementing the CBD at all levels.
3. Global Environment Facility The GEF should be granted permanent status as the financial mechanism of the CBD, and CoP-4 should take account of the GEF's recent independent review.
4. Impact assessments The Council wishes to exchange information on impact assessments, particularly with respect to activities with transboundary implications.
For CSD VI, the Council recommends that existing organisations (eg UNEP and UNIDO) should promote the role of private investment and encourage the adoption of codes of conduct, environmental management systems and measures for eco-efficiency. 1 Available from Fern
Commission Hosts Workshop on Indigenous Peoples and DevelopmentOn 12-13 March, the European Commission held a workshop with indigenous peoples to discuss its draft working paper on indigenous peoples and development cooperation (see Forest Watch21). The workshop formed part of a broader consultation process, where many people were asked to give written comments on the draft paper.
The new draft will focus more on capacity-building of indigenous peoples' organisations and will explicitly recognise the positive contribution of indigenous peoples to sustainable development.
The Council is currently discussing the Commission's working paper and the next Development Council (18 May) is expected to adopt a resolution on the issue.
The European Alliance with Indigenous Peoples has adopted a joint position which calls for the Council to accept the principles in the working paper as guidelines for future EC policies and activities.
The EAIP position 2 also gives specific recommendations on how these guidelines should be implemented, given that this may not be clear from the paper itself. 2 Available from Fern
Letters to IMF and World Bank on IndonesiaA wide range of NGOs have signed on to two letters 3 to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the past month. The first letter was drafted by the Environmental Defense Fund (US) and addresses the general environmental and social impacts of loans to Indonesia.
One of the most disastrous projects it mentions is the conversion of one million hectares of peat swamp forest for rice growing in Kalimantan. This project is the focus of a second protest letter drafted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. 3 Available from Fern
EU Forest Agenda
• 13 April-1 May: CSD VI,New York
• 17 April: European working group on Timber Chain of Custody, Brussels
• 21 April: World Bank briefing for NGOs on its activities in the Caribbean, Brussels
• 23-24 April: NGDO Liaison committee annual conference 'Solidarity 2000', Brussels
• 4-15 May: 4th conference of the parties to the CBD, Bratislava, Slovakia
• 8 May: European Working Group on Amazonia, Brussels
• 14-15 May: Conference on Sustainable management of European forests, Versailles, France
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