WRITTEN QUESTION E-3116/96 by Maartje van Putten (PSE) to the Commission (18 November 1996)

Subject: Convention on Biological Diversity

One of the objectives explicitly referred to in the Convention on Biological Diversity is the sustainable use of natural resources.

The Convention also recognizes that special measures are required to meet the needs of developing countries if the sustainable use of natural resources is to be achieved.

Given the growing realization that the conservation of biodiversity and development are interdependent:

Can the Commission summarize the activities it is currently supporting under developing countries' biodiversity strategies? In what way and to what extent does this support contribute to the twofold objective of the conservation of biodiversity and (economic) development in developing countries?

Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission (19 December 1996)

The Community has a long history of support to strategies, programmes and projects aiming at protecting biological diversity in developing countries whilst ensuring the necessary link with the provision of social and economic incentives, to contribute to the wider goal of sustainable development.

The development cooperation of the Community takes into account the threefold objective of the Convention on biological diversity, i.e. the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the equitable sharing of benefits deriving from the use of genetic resources. The Community has underlined that it attaches great importance to the development of national biodiversity strategies by all parties to the Convention. These national strategies will provide useful information and guidance for the choice of projects to ensure the integration of environmental concerns into development cooperation.

The Commission is currently implementing an evaluation of the environmental performance of the Community's programmes in developing countries. In the context of this evaluation, an inventory of environment and tropical forests programmes has been made which indicates that during the period 1990-1995, the total of funds committed for projects directly and indirectly related to the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources was 644 MECU (land resources: 209 MECU, marine resources: 40 MECU, freshwater resources: 28 MECU, tropical forests: 307 MECU, biodiversity:60 MECU).

Within this amount, 287 MECU has been committed from the specific budget lines B7-6200 'Environment in developing countries' and B7-6201 'Actions for the sustainable management of tropical forests' that both include biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of natural resources as key priority areas of support. In addition, 6 MECU have been committed from budget line B7-8110 (global environment) for small activities such as support to conferences, meetings, workshops, publications, studies, exhibitions and field projects addressing conservation and sustainable use of forests and biodiversity.

At the strategic level, the Commission is in the final stage of preparing a strategy for the development of protected areas for the conservation of biodiversity that will focus on the necessity to reconcile the needs for conservation with the social and economic needs of the local communities. This approach is already applied in a number of programmes and projects in Asia and Latin America and in the African, Caribbean and Pacific states. The Commission is also in the process of elaborating its proposal for a Community biodiversity strategy to meet the Community's obligations under Article 6 of the Convention on biological diversity, according to which all parties are required to propose national strategies and to integrate biodiversity concerns into relevant policies. The proposal will include a section on the integration of biodiversity concerns into the development cooperation policy of the Community.

In early 1997 the Commission will issue its guidelines for forest sector development cooperation with a specific chapter related to the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity while insisting on the need for the integration of the social and economic dimensions in actions aiming at sustainable development and management of forest resources.

The Commission is also currently studying the conditions for the implementation of the Convention's provisions for the sharing of benefits deriving from the industrial and agricultural use of biological diversity.