Informing NGOs, MEPs, Member States, the European Commission and the media.  Issue 93, February 2005.

FERN celebrates its 10th anniversary year

First carbon sinks projects attempting CDM registration blocked

The first two carbon sinks projects aiming to sell carbon credits from tree planting under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have stumbled at the first hurdle. An expert panel assessing the submitted baseline methodologies – technical documents required for projects seeking CDM approval – recommended that both be rejected. The recommendations were made on the grounds that the projects, located in Brazil and Belize, can’t prove how much extra carbon dioxide the trees would actually suck up.

Both projects would establish native species tree plantations on fire-prone grasslands. One plantation would cover 8700 hectares of state forest land owned by the Belize government and the other 4100 hectares of degraded land ringing hydroelectric reservoirs near Sao Paulo held by AESTiete, a Brazilian electricity utility.

The decision came at a meeting of the CDM’s Afforestation and Reforestation Working Group (25-26 Jan) and the Executive Board is due to consider the recommendations at its upcoming meeting later this month.

The Executive Board have yet to decide on the fate of the troubled Vallourec & Mannesmann Brazil project. The company aims to sell carbon credits for continuing to use charcoal in its pig iron smelter instead of switching to coal but saw its baseline methodology rejected for the second time by the Executive Board’s Methodologies Panel on 26-28 January.

The decisions vindicate ‘carbon plantations’ critics like FERN, who have long maintained that tree plantations’ ability to absorb any specific amount of carbon from the atmosphere is unverifiable.

Commission says development policy lacks credibility

Four years after the Council adopted an EC development policy statement, the Commission has launched a consultation process, stating that the current development policy is “lacking credibility and relevance” and can't meet “partners’ requirements”.(1)

The Commission has therefore released an ‘issues paper’ that underlines the need for policy coherence among EU policies. For this to be realised, the debate needs to be redirected to ensure other policies (notably trade and agriculture) don’t impact negatively on the poorest people. However, no analysis is provided of the EU trade agenda, despite it being highly criticised by southern partners for setting up barriers to development. The issues paper also neglects to call for recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights, in line with the November 2002 Council conclusions. A positive step is the emphasis placed in the issues paper on the relation between poverty and the environment, and the acknowledgement that addressing those links “should be at the core of national efforts to eradicate poverty”.

A new communication will be drafted by mid-2005 (9 March is the final deadline for comments) and a new development policy statement is expected to be approved by Council and Parliament by Autumn 2005.

(1) See: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/theme/consultation/index_en.htm

Malaysian activists say MTCC is corrupt

On a European tour (7-15 February), activists from Malaysia explained why they believe the Malaysian Timber Council Certification’s (MTCC) scheme is not credible. This was the first time in 15 years that Malaysian activists felt confident enough to come to Europe and discuss publicly forest practices in Malaysia.

Previous tours at the end of the Eighties and beginning of the Nineties often resulted in jail sentences and confiscation of passports. The activists presented evidence showing MTCC’s lack of independence (as MTCC is governed by government and forestry industry), clear gaps in the chain of custody (making legality claims difficult to sustain) and most importantly, lack of recognition of customary rights – even although the Court has granted these rights in several cases. It is this issue – lack of recognition of customary rights – which is of greatest concern to the Malaysian activists as well as to the European NGOs that hosted the tour: FERN, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and Greenpeace. The NGOs demand for the MTCC not to be accepted as a credible certification scheme, not to certify sustainability or to certify legality.

DG Trade supports ECA campaign on safeguards for large dams

Pascal Lamy backed the European ECA Reform Campaign on their concerns about export credit funding for large dams when he was still the Trade Commissioner (November 2004).

FERN had raised concerns about an EU proposal tabled at the OECD that would allow export credit agencies (ECAs) better financing terms for large hydro power plants, without requiring that projects comply with social and environmental safeguards (see FW no. 89).

It's widely acknowledged that large dams world-wide have failed to provide the benefits their promoters predicted. At the same time, their negative social and environmental impacts have been far greater than imagined.

On behalf of the European ECA Reform Campaign, FERN has been calling on the Commission to ensure strong safeguards are met to mitigate negative impacts. This effort has been rewarded. In November, replies from Pascal Lamy to letters sent by FERN made it clear that he expects European ECAs to comply with specific safeguards when financing large dams, including the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). This is a crucial success for the campaign coalition as it further cements the Commission’s commitment to the WCD and acknowledges the critical role ECAs play in financing large dams.

Indigenous protests on Sakhalin Island

The indigenous peoples of Sakhalin Island, Russia, are taking direct action and demanding that the enormous Sakhalin I and II oil and gas projects address their concerns. The Nivkh, Uilta, and Evenki of Sakhalin – who have seen their livelihoods diminish under the oil and gas project – endured five days of minus 30 degree temperatures to blockade the projects in late January. The Sakhalin II project has received $US 116 Mio. in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

NEWS IN BRIEF

Poplar trees 'lost' in China

New Scientist has reported that over one million GM insect-resistant poplar trees have been ‘lost’ in China. The government planted the trees over 8000 square km in an effort to prevent flash floods and halt the spread of deserts, but now no one knows exactly which trees in the areas are transgenic. China’s Ministry of Agriculture hasn't kept track of them because they're not crops, and the country’s State Forestry Bureau doesn't have a licensing system to properly trace the trees.

International Arrangement on Forests

On the 25-28 January, Mexico hosted a Country-led initiative (CLI) in support of a future International Arrangement on Forests (IAF). The meeting was to elaborate the critical elements that countries would like to see included in a future IAF and to provide a basis for the decision concerning the future IAF that will be taken at the United Nation Forum on Forests, 16-27 May. The achievement of the meeting was a final report with a synthesis of views.

See http://www.iisca/sd/forests/iaf/

Funding submissions deadline for indigenous rights nears

Indigenous peoples' organisations have until 26 April 2005 to apply for funding from the European Commission. Submitted proposals are to provide support for building the capacity of indigenous peoples in the promotion and protection of their rights.

See http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl

New environmental dictionary

Finland’s environment ministry and environment institute have launched a new multi-lingual environmental dictionary, Endic 2004, presenting over 6,000 terms (including EU legislation) in nine languages (English, French, German, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian).

New staff at FERN: Lucia Appleby joins FERN as communications manager/editor.

Forest Agenda

1 March: Council Working Group meets civil society groups re: illegal logging: Brussels, Belgium.

9-11 March: 1st meeting of the FSC Plantation review group, Sweden

22 March: NGO Strategy session on ECAs: Brussels, Belgium

EU Forest Watch is published by FERN, the forest campaign group focusing on EU policy.
To unsubscribe please send an email to info@fern.org requesting removal from our list.

FERN Brussels, 20 Avenue des Celtes, 1040 Brussels, Belgium. http://www.fern.org/
Tel: +32 (0)2 742 2436. Fax: +32 (0)2 736 8054. E-mail: info@fern.org
FERN UK, 1c Fosseway Business Park, Stratford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, GL56 9NQ, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1608 652 895. Fax: +44 (0)1608 652 878. E-mail: info@fern.org

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.