- NGO Concerns
- 1. Lack of participation
- 2. Lack of clear objectives for the PEOLG
- 3. PEOLG cannot be a framework for forest certification
- 4. Addressing inappropriate issues
- Recommendations
- Signatories
Introduction
The undersigned NGOs see the Pan-European Process (follow-up process to the
Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe) as a useful tool
to increase cooperation between European governments for the protection and
sustainable management of their forests. An important component of this process
is the development of criteria and indicators which will allow countries to
monitor their progress in implementing sustainable forest management.
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NGO Concerns
1. Lack of participation
Participation of Major Groups in this process has not been adequate. In most
signatory countries to the Pan-European Process there has been no participation
of Major Groups at the national level. This is despite commitments made at the
UNCED meeting in Rio to include Major Groups in all such processes.
The undersigned NGOs feel that the Pan-European Process is therefore not the
appropriate place to develop detailed guidelines for sustainable forest
management.
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2. Lack of clear objectives for the PEOLG
The undersigned NGOs see the value of the proposed PEOLG as a
communication and information tool for governmental interpretation of
resolutions H1 and H2 as regards forest management.
The undersigned NGOs are concerned that the PEOLG in their present form will
not provide an added value to existing national or subnational management
guidelines nor will they provide an incentive to improve forest management, as
their content is less demanding than legal requirements in several European
countries. There is therefore a risk that the PEOLG will be used as a tool to
proclaim that forest management in Europe is always sustainable - which it is
not.
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3. PEOLG cannot be a framework for forest certification
At the moment the PEOLG are not concrete and detailed enough to provide
standards for sustainable forest management and therefore are not a valuable
framework for certification or any other process leading to claims of achieving
sustainable forest management in Europe.
NGOs feel that in order to be credible, forest certification must be
independent and based on clear performance standards which can be used at the
forest management level.
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4. Addressing inappropriate issues
Compensation to forest owners and any other topic related to property rights
and benefits/costs of sustainable forest management is of purely national
competence and cannot be solved at the pan-European level.
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Recommendations
The undersigned NGOs strongly recommend the Ministerial Conference to:
- exclude all the parts of the document advocating direct relevance to the
operational level;
- exclude all the parts of the document suggesting that the PEOLG should serve as
a reference tool for certification;
- delete all the parts of the document relating to extra costs of forest
management, compensation for forest owners and property rights;
- add key recommendations for guiding best practice forest management in Europe,
namely:
- no logging of old growth forests;
- no clear cuts unless they emulate natural processes;
- establishment of sufficient non-intervention areas;
- no use of exotic species and GMOs in forestry;
- strong limitation on use of chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers).
- state that these guidelines cannot form the basis for forest certification as
being pan-European they can not be specific enough nor have they been developed
with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders.
Signed by:
Stefan Leiner
WWF European Policy Office
for all European WWF national offices
Saskia Ozinga
Fern, UK
Georgina Green
Friends of the Earth UK
Angie Zelter
Reforest the Earth, UK
Meriel Young
Reforest Scotland, UK
Nick Hildyard
The Corner House, UK
Hermann Edelmann
Pro Regenwald, Germany
Jutta Kill
Urgewald, Germany
Jehn Ruediger
AK Regenwald, Germany
Otto Miettinen
Friends of the Earth, Finland
Vladimir Levchenko
ENWL, St Petersburg, Russia
Zhirina Ludmila
VIOLA, Bryansk, Russia
Anatoly Lebedev
BRPC, Vladivostok, Russia
Arjan Alkema/Gemma Boetekees
Friends of the Earth, The Netherlands
Ariane Crampton
Fern, Belgium
1C Fosseway Business Park, Stratford Road
Moreton-in-Marsh GL56 9NQ, UK
Phone: 44 1608 652895 Fax: 44 1608 652878
saskia@gn.apc.org