WRITTEN QUESTION E-2333/01 by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission. Implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism and deforestation in the Amazon.
Date: 2001-07-31
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: climate change, deforestation, economic consequence, environmental impact, forest certification, forestry policy, international agreement, sustainable development, tropical forest

C 93 E/112

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2002

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(21 September 2001)

To date, the Commission has appointed about 430 Euratom inspectors. These appointments are therefore
a matter of routine and as part of administrative reform intended to simplify procedures it has appeared
advisable to delegate these formal acts to the director general responsible for Euratom Safeguards.

The Commission’s Decision of 27 June 2001 therefore grants the Director General for Transport and
Energy (DG TREN) the authority to appoint inspectors on behalf of the Commission (Articles 81 and 82 of
the EAEC Treaty).

(2002/C 93 E/131)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2331/01

by Concepció Ferrer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Discriminatory linguistic requirements

(31 July 2001)

I have received information pointing to possible discrimination on linguistic grounds by the Commission
or services connected with it, including the Tacis and Phare information offices and the technical assistance
office of the Socrates, Leonardo and Youth programmes.

Various advertisements published by these offices specify a requirement for English mother tongue, thereby
excluding the other Community languages.

Does the Commission agree that advertisements such as those described above, which specify a
requirement for English mother tongue, are discriminatory in an environment in which respect for the
free movement of workers is key?

Does the Commission intend to take steps to avoid discrimination of this kind?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(8 October 2001)

The Honourable Member is referred to the Commission’s answers to written questions E-4100/00 (1),
E-0779/01 (2), E-1681/01 and E-1682/01 (3) from Mr Staes and E-1356/01 from Mr Gemelli (4).

(1) OJ C 174 E, 19.6.2001, p. 233.
(2) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 245.
(3) See page 18.
(4) OJ C 350 E, 11.12.2001, p. 132.

(2002/C 93 E/132)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2333/01

by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission

(31 July 2001)

Subject: Implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism and deforestation in the Amazon

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol offers scope for forest management
projects because of forests’ carbon sink potential. The scope of application of the CDM is currently still
under discussion. The prevention of deforestation by means of sustainable forest management can be seen
as a method of tackling the greenhouse effect in that the protection of existing forests conserves their
potential to absorb carbon dioxide. The Amazon area is of particular relevance in this context as the
Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest remaining tropical rainforest.

18.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93 E/113

The success of sustainable forest management projects, and hence the prevention of deforestation, largely
depends on the involvement and motivation of the local and indigenous population. Clear economic and
social advantages for and active participation by the local and indigenous population are the preconditions
for this. However,
there is a huge divide between the international negotiations on the detailed
implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism by national governments and the opportunities
in these
for involvement of
negotiations.

the local and indigenous forest dwellers who have a direct

interest

Does the Commission consider that sustainable forest management projects aimed at preventing

1.
deforestation should be eligible for the CDM and, if not, why not?

2.
Is the Commission prepared to play an active role in ensuring that local and indigenous population
groups are able to participate in defining the conditions for ‘sink projects’ within the CDM, and, if so, what
form does the Commission think that this participation should take?

Answer given by Mr Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(30 October 2001)

1.
In accordance with all Member States and many other Parties, the Commission opposed including
‘prevention of deforestation’ as a specific project activity under the Clean Development Mechanism during
negotiations at the Sixth Session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP6). As a consequence, this activity is presently excluded from
crediting under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) during the first Commitment Period.

This does of course not indicate that the Commission condones deforestation or is oblivious to its
disastrous environmental and social consequences. To the contrary, the Commission and the Community
undertake major political, financial and specific project efforts to stem worldwide deforestation, which
currently amounts to about 13 million hectares annually.

However, project activities to prevent deforestation do not fit the Clean Development Mechanism very
well. The principal reason is ‘leakage’: Individual tracts of forest may be preserved successfully; however,
the displaced demand for timber or land tends to re-emerge in other locations outside the project
boundaries, perhaps even in other countries and lead to carbon emissions there. Moreover, giving credit to
and compensating ‘prevented deforestation’ on a project-by-project basis could provide a perverse incentive
not to act against deforestation in a country through other policy means and law enforcement.

Therefore, the Parties chose to consider deforestation prevention under the Special Climate Change Fund
and the adaptation fund under the Kyoto Protocol, both of which will be established in the near future, but
to exclude it from crediting under CDM.

2.
The Protocol defines a dual purpose for the CDM, namely helping Annex I Parties to fulfil
commitments and contributing to sustainable development. For the Commission, it is not conceivable how
sustainable development can be promoted via forestry projects without full participation of local and
indigenous groups. Therefore, the Commission played a pro-active role in past negotiations about the
modalities for sinks in the CDM to ensure a prominent role for these groups.

According to the results of COP6, details about socio-economic impacts of sink projects in CDM remain to
be agreed by 2003 at the latest. Preliminary proposals for the process of certifying emission reductions, as
required by Article 12 of the Protocol cover stakeholder participation quite extensively.

One practical
instrument for ensuring stakeholder participation in forest management could be forest
certification, an independent third-party assessment whether management meets certain sustainability
criteria. These criteria include the rights of indigenous people and adequate stakeholder participation.
Forest certification has already been applied to almost 100 million hectares of forests all over the world.
To further possible use of this instrument in ensuring environmental and social compatibility of carbon
sinks, the Commission has organized a special workshop on this topic recently.