| People prioritised in parks plan The Fifth World Parks Congress, held in Durban in September, announced the adoption of a ‘new paradigm’ for protected areas, with benefits to people being put at the core of conservation. The Congress was organised by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), hosted by the South African government and attended by some 3,000 conservationists from 150 countries. As a result of sustained advocacy by indigenous peoples’ representatives – 140 attended the Congress – the new Durban Accord and Action Plan, adopted by the Congress, recognise the need to secure indigenous peoples’ rights, to end forced relocation, to restore indigenous peoples’ lands and ensure their engagement as equal partners in protected area management. A message sent by the Congress to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) recognises the importance of indigenous rights for effective conservation, recommends new mechanisms for participation and national reforms to recognise and support community-conserved areas. The Action Plan proposes the establishment of an independent global ‘Commission on Truth and Reconciliation’ to redress the mistakes of the past and establish the basis for just conservation in the future. Protected areas currently cover some 12% of the planet’s land surface, including many forests. A majority of these overlap lands owned or claimed by indigenous peoples and yet have been established without their consent. Agencies such as IUCN have accepted for decades that indigenous peoples’ rights should be recognised in protected areas. Unfortunately, as detailed studies and testimony show, protected areas continue to marginalise and exclude indigenous peoples causing cultural loss, impoverishment and suffering. Major changes in national conservation laws, policies and institutions are now needed to put the Durban Accord into effect. The EU needs to support these initiatives at the CBD and through its aid budget. See www.forestpeoples.org and www.iucn.org. |
EU challenges BTC over human rights The European Commission has said that it is following the human rights situation and possible abuses along the route of the controversial Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project, which goes through Turkey, an EU candidate country. The statement – made in a letter from the Directorate of Enlargement – requires Turkey to uphold human and minority rights as part of the so-called Copenhagen criteria, if it is to seek EU membership. This has implications for controversial projects in other pre-accession countries, many of which are highly forested. In a complaint, submitted to the EU in July, a coalition of human rights and environmental NGOs alleged that the projects’s legal agreements break Turkey’s accession agreements. The complaint was backed by sworn affidavits from Kurdish villagers affected by the pipeline, detailing breaches of their human rights. The EU will publish its assessment in November. NGOs are now calling on the EC to freeze further pre-accession grants to Turkey until the legal agreements for the pipeline are brought in line with Turkey’s accession agreements. The statement also raises the stakes for EU-based Export Credit Agencies providing financial security for the BTC project. In turn, these government-backed institutions must ensure the projects they support do not contravene these laws. |
World Forestry Congress: Big, but not great It only happens once every ten years, and now we know why. Four thousand delegates from 140 countries attended the 12th World Forestry Congress (WFC) in September to see 50 speakers, read 1,500 papers, attend 115 side events and browse the 150 exhibition stalls. If you missed FERN in the mêlée, we took part in a side event on participation of forest peoples in policy making, organised by the Forest Peoples Programme and, in other sessions, tried to hold the swish PR machines of agencies such as the UNFF to account. Overall, it was heartening to see poverty reduction and governance widely discussed, but rights were not given enough attention, only mentioned briefly in the technocratic final statement. Our verdict: ‘Must try harder.’ |
Vote delayed for furniture ecolabel On September 24, the European Commission decided to suspend the vote on a new ecolabel for furniture following the severe criticism of environmental NGOs – Greenpeace, EEB and FERN. The vote will now happen in December at the earliest at the next ecolabel regulatory meeting. NGOs complained that the document submitted to the vote of Member States was a softer version of the draft discussed by the technical working group. The new text reopened the door to more PVC to be used in ecolabelled items and weakened the text on timber sustainability. FERN regrets the reduction of percentages for certified wood and calls for a reassignment of previous values. In addition, the term “controversial sources of wood” should be reintegrated into the criteria. This would avoid wood from illegal sources being used in furniture stamped by an EU ecolabel, and henceforth ensure coherence with the Commission’s action plan to combat illegal logging. |
More evidence of poor practice by Export Credit Agencies Iprojects that exacerbate land conflicts and forced resettlement, ignore laws in the host country, destroy archeological and cultural sites, violate human rights and degrade the environment, as documented in a new publication: Race to the Bottom, Take II,1 published by ECA-Watch. The publication shows that a gentlemen’s agreement (Rev 6) adopted in December 2001 by most Export Credit Agencies to better scrutinise projects has not lead to a noticeable improvement in the situation. Many Export Credit Agencies themselves have acknowledged some of the problems, and a new, slightly improved, agreement, Rev 7, is now under discussion at the OECD. A coalition of European NGOs, lead by FERN, has in return presented a Rev 7bis to show what is really needed to ensure Export Credit Agencies do not contribute to environmental degradation, human rights abuses and social problems.2 It is hoped that the OECD will, before the end of the year, adopt an agreement that closely resembles Rev 7bis. 1 Available from www.eca-watch.org 2 Available from www.fern.org |
EP backs indigenous rights The European Parliament has adopted a comprehensive resolution on human rights as part of its 2002 annual report on human rights,1 with a section devoted to the rights of indigenous peoples. In it, the Parliament asks the Commission and the Council to fully implement the Council Resolutions of 1998 and 2002 (see FW passim), and supports demands for recognition from indigenous communities such as ‘pygmies’. Country Strategy Papers – the official documents that say how EC aid will be spent – should now include a mandatory section on indigenous peoples. The issue will also be a permanent agenda item for inter-parliamentary delegations to inform and check the Country Strategy Papers. 1 A5-0274/2003 see www.europarl.eu.int |
NEWS IN BRIEF ISO re-assesses certification ISO, the International Body for Standardisation, is to re-assess the effectiveness and use of its 1998 Technical Report: Information to assist Forestry Organisations in the use of ISO 14001 and ISO 14004. FERN has recommended the withdrawal of the report, as it is out of date and has been mis-used by certification organisations and others to make unsubstantiated claims, despite the authors’ statements to discourage this. Final hurdle for illegal logging plan NGOs anticipate that the European Commission’s Action Plan on illegal logging will be endorsed by the Council of the European Union on 13/14 October 2003. Although the Action Plan has been described as a positive first step towards tackling the illegal logging problem, the NGOs are hoping that the Council will push the Commission further on legislation to make it illegal to import or sell any illegally-sourced timber in the EU, and to strengthen existing legislation on money laundering and stolen goods. For a post-announcement reaction statement see www.fern.org. Carpathian forests workshop A two-day workshop to explore proposals for sustainable projects in the highly-forested Carpathian mountains is being organised by WWF on 24/25 November in Brasov, Romania. The workshop targets NGOs, governments and international donors to discuss issues such as legal timber marketing, forestry management and protected area management. See www.panda.org. Call for Proposals: DG Environment NGOs active in environmental protection have until 4 November 2003 to apply for funding from DG Environment. This year’s priority is ‘health and environment’. See http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/funding/intro_en.htm |
Forest Agenda 13-16 October: AFLEG conference, Yaoundé, Cameroon. 20-21 October: 2nd reading of Forest Focus regulation at Plenary session of European Parliament, Strasbourg. 22-23 October: Globalization, Localization and Tropical Forest Management in the 21st Century, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. |
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| PHOTO: Kakamega
Forest. Half of Kenya’s only tropical rainforest has already been lost. What is left provides a unique sanctuary for biodiversity and a vital resource for local people, many of whom depend on it for fuel, medicine and food. Credit: A. Arbib. |