EU Forest Watch                             

March 1999: Issue 32

Sami Tour in Europe

Forest Industries

Regulations for Forest and Environment

Congo Basin Initiatives

Forest Advisory Committee

EU Forest Agenda

Sami Tour in Europe

A delegation of Sami people, the indigenous peoples of Northern Scandinavia sometimes referred to as the Laps, visited the European Institutions and several EU Member States. The Swedish reindeer-herding Sami, are faced with seven court cases that challenge their customary rights for their reindeers' winter grazing. The court cases are filed by private forest owners. The Sami’s customary rights are not well defined in Swedish law. Therefore it is very likely the Sami will lose these court cases. This will be the end of the Sami culture in Sweden.1 

Sami representatives visited Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands where they met timber traders, NGOs and politicians.

While in Brussels the Sami met European Commission Officials, Members of the European Parliament including the Agricultural Committee, and NGOs. The Sami people explained that the current conflict has arisen because although Swedish legislation ensures the principle of traditional winter grazing rights, it doesn’t clarify the application of these rights.

The forest companies and forest owners who certify their forests according to the FSC standard, allow reindeer on their land. Indeed, the Swedish certification standard of the FSC recognizes winter grazing rights. The problem arises with the thousand forest owners whose forests are not FSC certified. They claim that reindeer are damaging their forests. The Sami acknowledge that some damage occurs. However, this is small compared to damage caused by moose and is at a level considered acceptable by large forest companies. Even so, the Sami propose to set up a compensation fund. The forest owners have refused this offer and have taken 12 Sami communities to Court.

During their visit, the Sami appealed to European Commission staff to ensure that all certification schemes fully respect their customary rights.

A letter with this request also was sent to the Pan European Forest Certification Scheme (PEFC) which is currently under discussion. The Sami stated that "for the PEFC to be acceptable to us, it has to include social aspects, as for example the rights of the Sami people".

The Commission officials expressed concern for their situation. The Lisbon criteria and guidelines will be examined to see whether they can support the Sami case.

The Commission agreed that any certification process should be open and guarantee participation of interested parties.

The European Commission will also inform the Forest Owners associations of the plight of the Sami.

NGOs promised to inform the Swedish Government of this issue and to urge them to respect the customary rights of its indigenous people and to sign on to ILO 169.

http://www.itv.se/boreale/samieng.htm

On 4 March 1999, DG III (Industry) held a meeting to discuss their future "Communication on the Global and Sustainable Competitiveness of the Forest-Based and Related Industries in the European Union". Participants included research experts, NGOs and Trade Unions.

DG III’s initiative to organise a consultation at an early stage in the drafting of their Communication was welcomed by the participants as an important and positive step towards good co-operation. The participating NGOs urged the Commission to continue this process and asked for a second meeting to discuss the first draft Communication.

The Commission's Communication is a discussion framework on EU forest- based industries which will form the basis of a conference scheduled for 5 July in Helsinki.

NGOs have drafted a joint response1 to the Commission’s working document which includes the following comments:

- Competitiveness should be subsidiary to sustainability

- A sustainable resource base is a prerequisite to long-term sustainable competitiveness.

- The integration of environment and social issues provides an opportunity to improve the forest-based industry’s sustainability.

- The EU should increase fair trade

- Consumption of forest products should only be promoted when they come from well managed forests.

 1 available from Fern

On 17 March 1999, the European Parliament’s Development Committee discussed the draft Regulations for the Environment and Forest budget lines1  (Forest Watch 31). Mr. Pomés Ruiz, rapporteur for the Forest Regulation and Mrs. van Putten, rapporteur for the Environment Regulation presented their draft reports2.

The Parliament and the Commission agreed that the Forest and Environment Budget Lines are crucial for future forest and environment projects. Although the Forest Regulation was well received some issues were raised:

1. The need to improve EC aid through better access to information, implementation of existing policies and increased staffing.

2. The need for prior informed consent of local people and more support for grassroot initiatives.

3. The need to ensure sufficient funding for forests in developing country.

The Environment Regulation lists many priority areas and aims to develop policies. However, the demand from developing countries is not mentioned.

The need for increased human resources was also addressed. The Commission insisted that staff allocation was an internal matter but they agreed with Parliament that lack of resources is currently a problem and does affect the quality of EC projects. Both institutions agreed that the discussion on the Regulations provide a forum to exchange ideas on lack of human resources in the Commission.

On 11 February 1999, the Member States Working Group voiced the opinion that the Environment and Forest Regulations should be merged. Mrs. van Putten raised the concern that this could lead to less funds for both Budget Lines.

 1 minutes available from Fern

 2 available from Fern

The World Bank organized a workshop for the Congo Basin Forest Policy Dialogue and Training Program (Forest Watch 19, 21, 25) 1-5 March 1999 in Libreville. Civil servants, international experts and NGOs actively participated in the workshop.

They proposed a series of regional policy actions to be implemented by the year 2010. They drafted a regional forest policy statement1 that provides a basis for discussion and actions aiming at an agreement between the Congo Basin countries to harmonize their forest sector development policies.

On 15-18 March 1999, WWF organised the Yaounde Forest Summit. The most important outcome is the Yaounde Declaration which commits the governments to accelerate the process of setting up transboundary protected areas. The Declaration also undertakes to harmonise forest policies and regulations to ensure logging is sustainable. This provides a basis for a regional certification standard and sustainable forest management in individual countries.

Whether these initiatives will serve the needs of forest peoples and lead to protection of the forests is unclear.

1 available: jblanchez@worldbank.org

On 25 March 1999, Commission officials, forest land owners, industry, trade union and NGO representatives attended the second forest advisory committee meeting1. The topics discussed included the Rural Development Regulation and implications for forestry, the Pan European Forest Certification System (PEFC), an International Convention on Forests and the next International Forum on Forests.

A new vice president was elected: Mr. K. Mol representing 'workers'.

The legal structure and a technical document have been developed for the PEFC. This initiative will be officially launched on June 30th, in Paris.

1 minutes available from Fern

EU Forest Agenda

• 7-9 April: Participants Meeting on the Brazil Pilot Project, Paris

• 12-16 April: NGO Forest Movement Europe Meeting, Munich

• 16 April: Development Council Working Group Meeting on the Forest and Environment Regulations, Brussels

• 14-16 April: WWF/FSC Forest Economy 2000, Mainz

• 21-22 April: European Parliament Development Committee Meeting, Brussels

Fern would like to thank NOVIB, WWF International and the John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation for their support