European Commission’s draft Strategic Framework for international cooperation is no longer comprehensive and skips partnerships focus
16 octobre 2024
On 2 October 2024, the European Commission (EC) not only proposed a delay of 12 months for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), it also published its long-awaited Strategic Framework for International Cooperation Engagement on Deforestation – taking the unusual step of emptying this document of much of its promise in advance.
EUDR Article 30 stipulates that, through partnerships and cooperation, the EC “shall engage in a coordinated approach with producer countries” and other consumer countries. “The Commission shall develop a comprehensive Union strategic framework for such engagement and shall consider mobilising relevant Union instruments.” Partnerships “shall allow the full participation of all stakeholders”, including civil society, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and smallholders.
Curiously, the proposed Strategic Framework is no longer ‘comprehensive’, and has scrapped its partnership ambition, focusing instead on technical and development cooperation.
The Framework defines four clear objectives, five valuable priority areas (e.g., support for smallholders and traceability systems) and eight principles (including access to information and a human rights approach), but it then fails to clarify how they will be achieved. Although EUDR Article 30 is strong on inclusiveness, the Framework’s key principle only mentions the weak and ambiguous formulation “favouring the engagement” of stakeholders.
The Framework also misses the opportunity to describe a proposed process to develop the bilateral partnerships between producer countries and the EU, which should be centred around clear incentives to tackle the root causes of deforestation and forest degradation.
In cooperation with our partners in producer countries, Fern has developed two reports on partnerships: One outlines conditions for effective partnerships (Getting the incentives right) and the other details what an EU strategic framework and partnerships should look like. They demonstrate that partnerships can be effective only under certain conditions including commitment from both parties, and the provision of clear incentives.
Although the Framework includes a principle on “lessons learnt”, it doesn’t seem to have learned lessons (good or bad) from the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs). They are briefly referred to in the section on forest partnerships but not on the partnerships map, even though in several countries VPAs have laid an unprecedented foundation for improved forest governance (transparency, participatory rights, land rights) and are the most relevant initiatives for EUDR partnerships to build on.
It is striking that, on the day the draft Framework was released, the EC also published its proposal for the unilateral termination of the VPA between the EU and Cameroon – without prior publication of a joint review report, nor a multi-stakeholder dialogue covering the joint review’s conclusions and options for next steps. Ghosting the VPAs and unilaterally terminating them without any public assessment, does not set a good example for future partnerships.
Image credit: Media Lens King/Shutterstock
Catégories: News, Forest Watch, EU Partnerships, EU Regulation on deforestation-free products
