WRITTEN QUESTION E-1730/98

by Gerardo Fernández-Albor (PPE) to the Commission

(5 June 1998)

Subject: European Union involvement in the Araucaria programme

The coral beds of Los Roques (Venezuela), the island of Coiba (Panama) and the Sonora Desert in Baja California are some of the areas covered by the Araucaria programme, through which the Spanish Government is seeking to meet the commitments made in the Convention on Biological Diversity, signed after the Rio Summit.

Spanish investment in various endangered habitats in Latin America over the coming five years will reach 10 billion pesetas, an undertaking which the Spanish Government hopes will benefit from contributions from public and private bodies, the business sector and the governments of the recipient countries.

Can the Commission say what its involvement is in similar projects, whether it intends to participate in Spanish programmes to develop and maintain biodiversity in Latin America, and whether the involvement of Member States in such programmes in Latin America as a whole is subject to any specific coordination at Community level?

Answer given by Mr Marín on behalf of the Commission

(15 July 1998)

In the course of its development cooperation, the Commission has committed itself firmly to implementing the obligations laid down in the 1992 Rio Convention on Biological Diversity. The resources at its disposal include budget headings B-62OO ("Environment in the developing countries") and B-6201 ("Tropical forests"). Their use is governed by Council Regulations (EC) 722/97 on environmental measures in developing countries in the context of sustainable development(1) and 3062/95 on operations to promote tropical forests(2).

These Regulations provide for schemes to be funded to preserve biological diversity (the development of methods for the sustainable use of biodiversity resources, conservation of ecosystems and habitats, identification and evaluation of biodiversity resources), especially in tropical forests. They have enabled the Commission to launch a series of schemes in countries of the Amazon Basin, in particular Brazil, Central America and elsewhere in Latin America.

On 4 February the Commission adopted a communication to the Council and Parliament on a European Community biodiversity strategy(3). In this document, it pledged to draw up an action plan to integrate conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity into its development cooperation policy. This action plan will be finalised by the beginning of 2000.

As for the coordination of Community schemes with the Member States' programmes, the Commission strives to maximise synergies between activities. Besides the channels of communication established under the above Regulations (major Community projects are presented to the development committee for the region concerned, on which the Member States are represented) and the provision for discussion each year of the guidelines proposed by the Commission for operations in the year ahead, reporting and cooperation practices have developed. These include systematic debriefings at the Commission's delegations in the wake of missions by consultants and Commission officials to identify and evaluate Community projects. These debriefings are attended by representatives of the Member States' aid agencies.

Last but not least, the Commission's efforts under Regulations (EC) 3062/95 and 722/97 to find opportunities for cofinancing with other donors, and in particular the Member States, are reflected by the considerable number of projects being cofinanced by the latter.

(1) OJ L 108, 25.4.1997.

(2) OJ L 327, 30.12.1995.

(3) COM(98) 42 final.