WRITTEN QUESTION E-2726/99 by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Deforestation in Amazonia.
Date: 2000-01-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Brazil, EU environmental policy, environmental cooperation, forest conservation, tropical forest

3.10.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 280 E/115

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2000)

The Commission shares the Honourable Member(cid:146)s concern with regard to the situation in the fisheries
sector, which is to be regarded as a high-risk branch of economic activity.

On the basis of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to
encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (1), and of the Council Resolution of
21 December 1987 (2), the Commission has since 1990 had in place a project to harmonise statistics on
accidents at work in the Community as a whole. This project is called ESAW (European Statistics on
Accidents at Work). The Council recognised the importance of this project in the resolution of 27 March
1995 (3). The first set of results from this project refer to accidents at work in 1993 and the latest figures
available are for 1996.

Despite the efforts that it has made, the Commission still does not, however, have reliable and complete
information on accidents in the (cid:145)fisheries and aquaculture(cid:146) sector, as only some of the Member States
provided the necessary data.

However, estimates based on only five Member States reveal that the incidence of accidents in this
industry, both accidents resulting in absence of more than three days and fatal accidents, is well above the
average for all the other sectors of economic activity. On the basis of the partial data available to the
Commission, the trend during the period 1994-1996 in the fisheries sector was negative (+ 2,1 % for
accidents resulting in absence of morte than three days and + 1,0 % for fatal accidents).

With regard to the causes of fatal accidents through drowning etc., the Commission does not have the
information requested by the Honourable Member. These data will be available from the year 2001, when
phase III of the ESAW project specifically relating to the causes and circumstances of accidents will be
running.

In conclusion, the Commission would like to point out to the Honourable Member that two directives
regarding the health and safety protection of workers and the reduction of accidents at work in the
fisheries sector have been adopted by the Council. They are Council Directive 92/29/EEC of 31 March
1992 on the minimum safety and health requirements for improved medical treatment on board vessels (4),
and Council Directive 93/103/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning the minimum safety and health
requirements for work on board fishing vessels (5).

It is the responsibility of the Member States to monitor the application of the national
transposing these Directives,
effectively to reducing the incidence of accidents and occupational diseases in the fisheries(cid:146) sector.

legislation
thus ensuring that the prevention policy prescribed therein contributes

(1) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989.
(2) OJ C 28, 3.2.1988.
(3) OJ C 168, 4.7.1995.
(4) OJ L 113, 30.4.1992.
(5) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993.

(2000/C 280 E/122)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2726/99

by Laura GonzÆlez `lvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Deforestation in Amazonia

(18 January 2000)

Without even consulting the National Environmental Council, the Brazilian government, together with the
National Agricultural Council, the body representing rural landowners, has introduced a bill in the Senate
to reform the Forestry Code. The press, NGOs and environmental associations such as the WWF have
described the bill as an (cid:145)environmental crime(cid:146). The bill provides, inter alia, for a general amnesty for all
environmental crimes and authorises the destruction of native vegetation in permanently protected areas,

C 280 E/116

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.10.2000

If
including hillsides and riverbanks, considered by conservationists as areas of supreme importance.
adopted, the law would worsen an already grim situation in which the forestry management plans drawn
up by the Brazilian government are routinely not adhered to.

Furthermore, in its worldwide campaign on conservation in Amazonia, Greenpeace reports that every day
an area of forest the size of 5 200 football pitches is destroyed, and that in 1998 alone 1 680 000
hectares of forest disappeared.

In accordance with commitments on climate change, and the agreements on environmental protection in
Amazonia secured as part of
the Rio Agenda, could the Commission intervene with the Brazilian
authorities to ensure that the Forestry Code reform bill is amended so that agricultural and forestry-related
activity is compatible with the conservation of the Amazonian forest, which belongs to the whole of
humanity?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(2 February 2000)

The environment and the principle of sustainable development are central issues in the relationship of the
Community with Latin America, with the subregional integration processes of Latin America and with the
individual countries of Latin America. The Commission follows very closely the development of Brazilian
policy in the field of the environment, which represents one of the priorities of our co-operation with
Brazil, as specified in the Commission(cid:146)s country strategy paper on Brazil approved in 1998 (1). To this end
an environmental counsellor has been stationed at the Commission(cid:146)s delegation in Brasilia.

Concerning the bill for a new forestry code (Codigo Florestal), as presented in the Brazilian Congress by a
group of congressmen from various parties, the proposal included a number of highly controversial points,
namely the reduction of the proportion of territory protected by law and a change in the definition of the
concept itself of natural reserve. Due to the lively debate created by this bill, and due to the opposition
from members of the Brazilian Congress, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and parts of the
government itself, the bill has been temporarily retired and will be discussed again in March when the
Brazilian Congress convenes again in an ordinary session.

Inside the government, the Minister of Environment, Mr JosØ Sarney Filho, expressed his opposition to the
very controversial proposal. Minister Sarney decided already in April 1999 that the revision of the current
forestry code should be lead by the (cid:145)National Council for the Environment(cid:146) (Conselho Nacional de Meio
Ambiente), indicating that no decision by the government should be taken until this council pronounces
on the conflicting issues.

Based on these circumstances, a specific intervention by the Commission is at this moment not being
considered.

The problem behind this law is not a new one. Even though the Brazilian government appears to be
seriously engaged in the protection of
the
compatibility of environmental policies with other public policies (in matters such as infrastructure,
agrarian reform and use of land) is not always fully ensured.

the environment, specifically in the Amazonian region,

The Commission fully supports an environmental policy based on the concept of sustainable development,
whose main operational activity is the pilot programme for the conservation of the Brazilian rain forest
(PPG7), a programme started in 1994 to which an amount of over € 70 million has been devoted so far by
the Commission (of a total of some € 300 million granted by the international community, over 80 % of
which is from Member States and the Commission). The conclusions of the recent participants(cid:146) meeting of
PPG7 held in Brasilia in October 1999 underlined the need to help the Brazilian authorities better to co-
ordinate their public policies in order to maximise the effects of sustainable development activities and to
make easier the incorporation of the lessons of the pilot programme in Brazilian policy.

(1)

IB/1052/98 (cid:129) FR/EN.