EU Forest Watch

Issue 45 July 2000

Published by Fern

Europe’s forests largely ignored

The EC’s commitment to protecting forest biodiversity will not be met by the DG Environment’s recent Draft Biodiversity Action Plan on the Conservation of Natural Resources, according to Fern and the Taiga Rescue Network (TRN).

    In a paper1 presented to Commissioner Wallstrom on 13 July, Fern and TRN welcomed parts of the plan but said it failed to go far enough and did not fulfil the requirements of the EC's Bio-diversity Strategy on forests. The creation of a network of protected forests was supported, but TRN and Fern urged the Commission to include specific action points on forests in the Action Plan.  European forests host the majority of Europe's biodiversity, yet there are no key action points for forests listed.                 In their paper, Fern and TRN urged the Commission to develop key forest action points as part of the overall Action Plan as well as in the 6th Environmental Action Programme being developed. Action points to be included are:

* combating illegal logging;

* reducing consumption of forest products, especially paper;

* no carbon sink plantation projects under the Kyoto Protocol.

The Commissioner  was also asked to ensure proper implementation of the EC's Biodiversity Strategy including integration of biodiversity concerns in other sectors like trade and development, where they are still lacking.

NTMs spreading fast, says APEC

The delayed report on Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) in the Forest Products Sector from the APEC countries1 was finally released last month. Aiming to assess the impacts of NTMs on trade in forest products, the report represents the first serious attempt to categorise the myriad of NTMs in use in the APEC region. However, it also reveals an out of date and complacent attitude to environmental protection and fails to recognise the role of trade in causing deforestation. 

    Defining NTMs as either environmentally, politically or health and safety motivated, the report identifies the most widely encountered NTMs in APEC countries as  subsidies, logging bans, log export bans and quotas. Environmentally motivated NTMs, such as certification, logging bans and recycling policies, are viewed as not having a significant impact on trade. Illegal trade activities - in many countries vast and beyond control - are in some cases seen as the result of NTMs and are acknowledged as significantly distorting trade.

    However, despite the report’s useful overview of the current use of NTMs, its analysis is weak. Free trade is consistently supported even though the authors acknowledge that its benefits are compromised by restrictions to the flow of labour, and by the distortion of prices that fail to reflect the true costs of goods and services- such as environmental and social costs. In addition, tropical deforestation is blamed on population growth and poverty - an argument discredited by CIFOR and WRI, among others.

            The report contains two scenarios for removing NTMs including certification. Although it is an interesting attempt, the report's conclusions are disputable as they are based on incorrect assumptions.

French kickoff

The French Presidency of the Council of the European Union started on the 1 July for six months1. The Presidency’s objectives on environmental issues include November’s COP6 conference on climate change at The Hague, preparations for the 10-year review of the Rio Earth Summit, and the proposed World Environment Organisation (see Forest Watch 44).

The Presidency will also organise a NGO forum on human rights.

    Development cooperation will also feature,with the implementation of the new Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) agreement, and a declaration on European develop-ment policy in the pipeline.

1 Programme available on http://www.presidence-europe.fr/pfue/static/acces5.htm

Certification harmonization

An international meeting on the subject of mutual recognition for forest certification schemes was held in Brussels from 26-27 June. The meeting was hosted by the Pan European Forest Certification scheme (PEFC) and funded by the European Commission.

    Representatives from almost every major organization involved in forest certification attended, including the Forest Stewardship Council. The US-based Global Forest Policy Project was the only environmental NGO present.

    Although PEFC’s support for mutual recognition is widely known, the meeting was organized mainly as a technical discussion to enable participants to share information and explore issues of common interest. All the major certifiers made presentations describing their work.

Participants strongly promoting mutual recognition were the International Forest Industry Round-table, the Australian Government, the Canadian Standards Association, and the US-based Sustainable Forestry Initiative. So far, most environmental NGOs have been wary of mutual recognition, which they fear could undermine high standards.

    The general outcome of the meeting was an understanding that mutual recognition is still a complex idea around which little practical experience has been developed; that there is a lot of interest in the subject, but that views are still divergent; and that further discussions among the parties would be helpful, as well as more cooperation and collaboration, for example, on joint certifications that could compare results on the ground.

    The PEFC said it would compile the contributions from the meeting into a report that it would make available on a web site. The Confederation of European Paper Industries  will host the next meeting.

Civilised discussions on trade & environment

DG Trade's efforts to improve its dialogue with civil society took a further step forward at the second set of meetings in June.

    Hot topics at the environment and sustainable development discussions were  intellectual property rights and the Commission’s plans for sustainability impact assessments (SIA). The discussion on intellectual property rights focused on the tension between public and private rights, the need to find a balance between them, and the extent to which this balance should be determined by an international framework.On the subject of traditional knowledge and indigenous peoples, participants were asked if they could provide the Commission with information to elaborate its negotiating position.

    The Commission presented the terms of reference for the third phase of SIAs, which will include sectoral impact studies. The Commission also stated that natural resources such as forests and fisheries were high on the list of priorities for sectoral SIAs.

Fern and other NGOs have repeatedly demanded such SIAs.

EC funding guide

Each year, the Commission gives away approximately 14 billion euros through a variety of budgets and subsidies. The bulk of the funding is destined for researchers, local authorities or private companies, but several budget lines are open to NGOs both within and outside the EU. The art, however, is moving through the maze of budget lines and application procedures to find the right one for your cause. To help you the Eurofunding Guide1, updated in March 2000, is a useful resource. The guide contains details of 272 Community subsidy programmes and budget lines, and offers detailed information about eligibility, application procedures and contacts. The guide's only shortcoming for small NGOs is its price: 150 euros.

1 Published by TransNational Consulting, 4, Rue de Berite, F-75006 Paris. Price: 150 euros.

Certification and WTO

A new discussion paper from the European Forestry Institute asks whether the voluntary nature of forest certification exempts it from WTO rules. The report argues that all that is needed to draw certification into WTO jurisdiction is minimal government intervention. This would leave certification vulnerable to  legal challenges from WTO members. The report is available from Fern.

EU Forest Watch informs NGOs, MEPs and European Commission officials about the forest debate in Brussels.  It is published by Fern, an NGO created by the World Rainforest Movement.  Fern advocates changes in EU activities in order to achieve:

• conservation and sustainable management of forests,

•  respect for the rights of forest peoples,

•  greater transparency in EU aid to tropical forest countries.

For more information visit our website

http://www.greennet.org.uk/fern

Contacts

Chantal Marijnissen & Sofia Ryder,

Fern, 20 Av des Celtes,

1040 Brussels, Belgium.

Tel:  32 2 742 24 36 / 733 36 53

Fax: 32 2 736 80 54

fern@arcadis.be

Saskia Ozinga & Jutta Kill

Fosseway Business Park,

1C Stratford Road

Moreton-in-Marsh

UK - GL 56 9NQ

Tel:   44 1608 652 895

Fax:  44 1608 652 878

saskia@gn.apc.org