JOINT ASSEMBLY OF THE CONVENTION CONCLUED BETWEEN THE AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC STATES AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (ACP-EC)

RESOLUTION () on all ACP Small Island States - climate change and the environment

The ACP-EU Joint Assembly,

- meeting in Luxembourg from 23 to 26 September 1996,

A. having regard to its previous resolutions on Small Island States, climate change and the environment adopted in Libreville (Gabon) - (July 1994), Dakar (Senegal) - (January/February 1995), Brussels (Belgium) - (September 1995) and Windhoek (Namibia) - (March 1996) and to its earlier resolution on sustainable development adopted in Strasbourg (France) - (February 1994),

B. recalling the resolutions and the programmes of action adopted by the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island States (Bridgetown, Barbados, April/May 1994), which specifically identified 'Climate Change and Sea Level Rise` as the priority environmental issue for Small Island States,

C. also recalling the report of the first session of the Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Berlin (Germany) from 28 March to 7 April 1995 and the proposals for a Protocol of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which was formed as a result of the environmental concerns of small island developing states, whose very existence is threatened by the impacts of climate change,

D. drawing attention to the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the second session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Geneva, July 1996) which recognized and endorsed the Second Assessment Report of the IPCC as currently the most comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, its impact and response options; and noting its findings, in particular the confirmation of human influence on the global climate and instructed that negotiations on a Protocol to encompass the remit of the Berlin Mandate be accelerated,

E. recalling in this regard that the World's Bank's views has concluded that better environmental management is a necessity for improved health standards, more equitable development, economic growth and poverty alleviation,

F. welcoming the conclusions on climate change of the June 1996 meeting of the Environment Council of the European Union, especially the reaffirmation of the Community's strong preference for a Protocol to advance the implementation of the Berlin Mandate and of its intent to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly after the year 2000, appreciating its attempt to define a dangerous level of climatic change but emphasizing that global average temperatures of two degrees above pre-industrial levels are an unacceptably high level,

G. taking note of the recent WHO/WMO/UNEP Report on Climate Change and Human Health, which concludes that climate change is likely to disturb various natural and ecological systems, thus triggering a host of mostly adverse effects on human health, and to impact on agriculture, ocean fisheries and the emergence, resurgence and transmission of infectious diseases, including tropical vector-borne diseases, and their extension to previously unaffected areas,

H. drawing attention to the view of forest experts that the decrease in the world's rainforests is affecting the global climate, while at the same time the climate change is affecting the forests,

I. having heard the testimony of the experts and invited speakers at the Hearing on Climate Change and the resultant environmental and health problems which are specifically associated with small island states on 25 September 1996, which emphasized in particular:

(i) the dangers posed by changes in the world's climate for human health,

(ii) the significant increase in recent years in the frequency and severity of hurricanes and cyclones in the Caribbean, Pacific and the Indian Ocean regions, the threat these pose to life and, property and their impact on social and economic development, including agriculture and tourism,

(iii) bio-diversity under threat and fragile ecosystems,

J. knowing and deeply concerned that the increase in concentrations and emissions of greenhouse gases, including human-induced chlorofluorocarbons, will result in further warming of the earth and that this increase in the average surface temperature will have far-reaching consequences for rainfall patterns, sea-levels, the volatility of climate conditions and thus for rainforests, land use, coastal flooding and erosion, agriculture, human health etc. with all the attendant social disruption,

K. recognizing the obligations of ACP/EU States in respect of the protection and enhancement of the Environment as provided under Part 2 Title 1 of the Lomé Convention (revised),

1. Extends its appreciation to the Co-Presidents, the experts from affected ACP Small Island States and other invited speakers for their contributions in the Hearing on Climate Change;

2. Welcomes the decision to create a Working Group to assess the impact of climate change on all the ACP Small Island States and propose strategies for heightening international awareness of the dangers posed by climate change to their fragile eco-systems and economies and to the health of their peoples;

3. Deplores the fact that the European Union can probably not reach its self-imposed target for CO2 reduction;

4. Calls on the European Commission and the Member States of the European Union to do everything to achieve a reduction of CO2, including tax reform (combining a CO2/energy tax and the reduction of other taxes);

5. Welcomes the report of the Commission on the action taken pursuant to its previous appeals to the European Community, its Member States and the Commission in respect of:

(i) continued assistance to the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean countries hit by hurricanes and cyclones in 1994 and 1995;

(ii) the options for achieving the 'Toronto target`;

(iii) the updating of its climate change strategy for the period post-2000 to achieve significant reductions in emissions in climate change gasses over the coming decades;

(iv) its assistance to ACP Small Island States on a regional basis, under separate and specific EDF allocation outside their National Indicative Programmes and Regional Indicative Programmes, in strengthening their disaster monitoring and preparedness programmes, including strategies and measures for adaption to climate change and lessening of the impact of its consequential effects on their environment;

(v) its acceleration of the transfer of appropriate technologies and practices to enable ACP Sates to develop coastal zone management strategies and to rehabilitate and protect areas affected by drought and desertification as well as by hurricanes and floods;

6. Deplores, however, the fact that measures for the protection of the climate were not sufficiently funded with resources from the EDF;

7. Appeals to the Commission and the ACP countries to ensure that every project must be environmentally compatible and respect especially the protection of the climate;

8. Calls on all Member States of the European Union and the ACP countries to do everything possible to ensure that the AOSIS protocol is adopted in Kyoto;

9. Calls on the contracting parties to the Climate Change Convention to pay greater attention to the important role which forests play in regulating climatic patters at the local, regional and global levels;

10. Follows with interest the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and urges this forum to place greater emphasis on the root causes of deforestation, such as inequitable land tenure systems and the overconsumption of forest products;

11. Again urges the developed partners of the Lomé Convention to take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof in line with the principle that the world's climate and ecological system should be 'protected for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind`;

12. Recognizes that, because of ecological and climatic conditions, only certain specific crops are suitable for cultivation in small island States and that such crops are not only environmentfriendly but also help to deal with the problems of flooding, pollution and erosion;

13. Urges that the strategies and measures to assist ACP Small Island States in adapting to climate change and lessening the impact of its effects on their environment should be backed up by sufficient resources, exploiting fully the range of physical assets of the islands' economies in the way which is most environmentally friendly and which in the long term will contribute to stabilizing and reducing human impact on the global climate;

14. Requests the Commission to keep the Joint Assembly informed of its implementation of the recommendations of this resolution;

15. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Council, the Commission, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the South Pacific Forum, Cariforum, the ICDCS, the WAEC and the Indian Ocean Commission.