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'
Date: 1999-07-07
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: conservation of resources, developing countries, forest conservation, management of resources, sustainable development, tropical forest

10.9.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 258/13

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

2. General comments

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 objec-
tives 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 Regu-
lation 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 Com-
munity 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.

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

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.

The Commission proposal of 3 February 1999 for a
2.2.
new Council Regulation on tropical forests is a welcome
measure. It is a logical follow-up to recent important achieve-
ments 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
forestry activities of different EU
institutions as well as those of the EU Member States.

tropical

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

(UNCED)

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

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10.9.1999

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.

As mentioned in the introduction, the draft regulation
2.5.
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 conser-
vation, 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.

3.3.
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 trans-
formation 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.

The ESC suggests that

3.4.1.
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.

in Article 2,

tropical

to reduce the negative effects of

3.5.
The ESC wants to draw particular attention to Article 4.
The EU should be bolder in emphasising the objective of EU
support
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

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.’

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 compati-
bility of EU decisions and international agreements should be
improved.

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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.

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

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.

4.6.
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.

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

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