Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal of the Commission for a Council Regulation (EC) on measures to promote the conservation and sustainable management of tropical forests and other forests in developing countries"

(1999/C 258/04)

On 5 March 1999 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for External Relations which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 9 June 1999. The rapporteur was Mr Kallio.

At its 365th Plenary Session on 7 and 8 July 1999 (meeting of 7 July 1999) the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion unanimously.

1. Introduction

1.1. Tropical forest resources are an important renewable natural resource for developing countries. Tropical forests are a fundamental part of the planet's biological diversity. The environmental balance of the planet essentially depends on the growth, existence and sustainable management of its forests. Tropical forest resources are important for the populations of developing countries and for regional development. The international community must step up its efforts to ensure that the principles of sustainable forestry are applied in global and regional agreements and arrangements.

1.2. The European Union must contribute to improving the effectiveness of measures to prevent overfelling and destruction of tropical forests in developing countries. The EU's development aid programmes must support these objectives with regard to the protection, renewal and management of tropical forests.

1.3. The growing demand for tropical wood in industrial countries has also contributed to the overfelling of tropical forests, and this has exacerbated the living conditions of the local population. The ESC already drew attention to these problems in its 1993 opinion(1).

1.4. The Commission's new proposal for a Council Regulation seeks to concentrate and redirect the EU's development aid for tropical forests. The proposal is on the right lines, but it does not go far enough with regard to forest renewal, cultivation and information provision.

1.5. The proposal for a Council regulation is based on budgetary item B7-6201. The money is intended for Community measures to promote the conservation of tropical forests, sustainable development and biological diversity, with a view to improving the quality of life for forest populations.

2. General comments

2.1. The ESC is extremely concerned about the situation regarding tropical forests. Although international agreements call for the sustainable management of tropical forests, they continue to be destroyed in many developing countries.

2.2. The Commission proposal of 3 February 1999 for a new Council Regulation on tropical forests is a welcome measure. It is a logical follow-up to recent important achievements in the EU, such as the document entitled "Evaluation of the forestry component of EC programmes in developing countries" (July 1998). Another earlier landmark is the EC "Forestry Manual" (Guidelines for forestry sector development co-operation), which outlines guidelines for development co-operation in the forestry sector. The first volume was published in October 1996. Other significant documents include "The EU Tropical Forestry Sourcebook" of 1998 that summarises all tropical forestry activities of different EU institutions as well as those of the EU Member States.

2.3. A very positive feature of the Commission's proposal is that it also acknowledges the global forest policy development after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio in 1992, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) as the global forest sector co-ordinator from 1994-1997, and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) as the present responsible UN co-ordinator body.

2.4. The EU's forestry programmes in developing countries have been evaluated in the above-mentioned document which gave detailed and concrete recommendations for further actions. The main conclusion was that an overall, coherent EU Tropical Forest Policy was needed. The evaluation clearly supports the overall objective presented in the EU "Forestry Manual" of 1996, which would provide an umbrella for all tropical forestry related activities of the EU. It would cover all regions and be valuable for financing instruments and all units (Evaluation of the Forestry Component, Synthetic Report, p. 23). This would provide a better basis for a new policy than the EU Council Regulation of 1995, which the present proposal will supersede.

2.5. As mentioned in the introduction, the draft regulation provides guidance for the use of budget line B7-6201. Therefore, the evaluation findings of that budget line should be taken seriously. Of these findings, a general lack of project priorities is perhaps the most important, although the general emphasis is on conservation of tropical forests, with efforts also put on sustainable forest management, capacity building and research. It is particularly important that B7-6201 and other EU funding be used to support local and regional activities, organisations, and populations.

2.6. The evaluation states in addition that the previous 1995 Council Regulation focused more on tropical forest conservation and less on the productive potential of forests; the evaluation recommends the approach of the EU "Forestry Manual", which considers the ecological, economic and socio-cultural aspects in a more balanced way.

3. Specific remarks

3.1. The Economic and Social Committee feels that the Commission proposal does not entirely reflect the view of the EC "Forestry Manual", according to which themes for forest management co-operation are both diverse and hierarchically interlinked. The first basic theme is institutional, i.e. related to policy and institutions. The second level includes the forest resources and their use, which can be divided into conservation, sustainable management, the planting of new forests, harvesting and regulations (e.g. certification of management and products). The third level includes knowledge and know how, especially forestry education, research and information. The Economic and Social Committee believes that EU measures on tropical forests must take account of all the different aspects (environmental, economic and social) of forestry in a balanced way.

3.2. In order to take all the elements of sustainable forest management into account more effectively, the Economic and Social Committee proposes that the definitions in Article 2 be formulated as follows: "... natural, semi-natural or planted; primary or secondary, closed or open dry or humid climate forest ecosystems, as well as forest product-yielding trees and shrubs on farmland and in other non-forest ecosystems."

3.3. The Economic and Social Committee feels that it is impossible to have a comprehensive tropical forest policy which neglects the importance of traditional and new agro-forestry systems or individual trees or woodlots which form an integral part of farming systems and frequently dominate in the forest product supply of the developing countries. Similarly, it should be recognised that bush vegetation which is not defined as forest, but which is used as fuel in many poor tropical countries which are in greatest need of EU support, may be an important supplier of forest products. The transformation of such dryland vegetation into productive forest is a very important form of forest development co-operation.

3.4. Although plantation forests now cover less than 2 % of tropical forests, they are becoming increasingly important not only for rural community wood supplies and industrial raw material production but also for carbon sequestration. The environmental and socio-economic effects of tropical forest plantations at both the global and local level should definitely be covered by a comprehensive EU tropical forest policy. This position would be consistent with other documents approved by the EU, such as the UNCED non-binding "Forest Principles", and the final report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Forests (IPF) of 1997. The EU Member States played a key role in drafting this report.

3.4.1. The ESC suggests that in Article 2, the second paragraph should emphasise even more clearly the need for forest rehabilitation, through the use of both natural forest regeneration and tree planting on deforested and otherwise inferior land.

3.5. The ESC wants to draw particular attention to Article 4. The EU should be bolder in emphasising the objective of EU support to reduce the negative effects of tropical forest plantations. The EU should invest, in particular, in launching and implementing national forestry programmes and policies in developing countries. Plantation forestry must be elevated to a higher status and be considered a business policy priority. In developing countries plantation forestry must be increased and made more efficient. Similarly, the opportunities for using indigenous tree species should be widened. Research must also be undertaken on different forms of development and sustainable practices for natural forest areas. The ESC also wishes to emphasise the objectives of the International Tropical Timber agreement.

4. Conclusions

4.1. The Economic and Social Committee considers the main thrust of the Commission document to be correct and worthy of support. The proposal should, however, be linked more directly to UN-led forestry policy processes. The compatibility of EU decisions and international agreements should be improved.

4.2. The ESC continues to emphasise the need for a more precise definition of sustainable forestry. This also applies to developing countries' own forestry policy objectives and programmes.

4.3. In planning and implementing EU programmes, the needs of the local labour force and the rest of the population need to be taken into account.

4.4. The Committee recommends that EU development programmes for tropical forests be clearly linked to the commitments of multilateral international agreements, such as the Rio declaration, Agenda 21 and World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements.

4.5. The Committee hopes that more of the EU's development resources will be channelled into research, education and information, the main beneficiaries of which should be the local population.

4.6. The Economic and Social Committee recommends additional investment in projects which establish and develop national sustainable forestry policy programmes in developing countries. These measures would be aimed at creating new jobs in developing countries and improving the quality of education, social policy and job security.

4.7. Finally, the ESC supports the EU position to conclude a broad, international agreement on forestry, which would establish a basis for the sustainable management and use of tropical forests, as well as common development co-operation criteria.

Brussels, 7 July 1999.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI

(1) OJ C 249, 13.9.1993, p. 3-5.