WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3537/97 by Wilfried TELKÄMPER to the Council. Forest fires in South-East Asia and their effect on indigenous peoples
Date: 1997-11-14
Institutions: European Parliament, TELKAEMPER
Subjects: EU aid, South-East Asia, climate change, degradation of the environment, environmental protection, fire, forest, international aid, public health













EUR-Lex - 91997E3537 - EN






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91997E3537

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3537/97 by Wilfried TELKÄMPER to the Council. Forest fires in South-East Asia and their effect on indigenous peoples  


Official Journal C 158 , 25/05/1998 P. 0145 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-3537/97 by Wilfried Telkämper (V) to the Council (14 November 1997)Subject: Forest fires in South-East Asia and their effect on indigenous peoplesThe recent catastrophe in Indonesia and Malaysia resulted in considerable environmental damage and significant health and other problems for the local population.Does the Council have any information on how many people have been affected by the haze as well as by the actual fires, which indigenous areas were affected, if indigenous settlements burnt down, if people were actually dying in the fires and if survivors possibly need humanitarian aid?Does the Council furthermore have information on the amount of primary forest and plantation forest which burn down, on the plans for reforestation and on implications for the land rights of indigenous peoples?Is the Council of the opinion that the recent events involving large scale forest fires and their impacts on local communities are in compliance with the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the principles of Agenda 21?Answer (12 February 1998)In its Reply to Question No E-3430/97 put by Mr SWOBODA, the Council gave a detailed account of the European Union's contribution in aid of the countries affected by the forest fires in South-East Asia.In addition to the information already supplied, emphasis should be placed on the bilateral aid supplied by the international community and in particular by Member States of the Union. International aid was closely coordinated on the spot in Jakarta, where the European Commission Representation established the necessary contacts with the Indonesian authorities to ensure that it was dispatched in the best possible conditions.Certain international initiatives should also be noted, namely the mission of experts sent out by the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) in Geneva to evaluate the consequences of the disaster and the measures to remedy it as well as the international experts' seminar on climate change and forest fires in particular which was held in November 1997 on the initiative of the Indonesian Government. Experts from the Member States contributed constructively to all these efforts.Finally, it should be stressed, with specific reference to the impact on forests, that the established position of the Community and its Member States in favour of developing an international instrument for the conservation of forests is well known and has been expressed on several occasions both within the UN General Assembly's Special Session, on the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, and at meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.