(a) RESOLUTION A3-0363/91

on EC participation in the United Nations Conference on the

Environment and Development (UNCED)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Staes

and others on EC participation in the United Nations

Conference on the Environment and Development (B3-0682/91),

- having regard to UN General Assembly resolution 44/228

concerning a United Nations Conference on the Environment

and Development,

- having regard to the report of the World Commission on the

Environment and Development, 1987 (the 'Brundtland

report'), as well as the reports produced by the Brandt

Commission and the Palme Commission,

- having regard to the conclusions of the conference of

European Environment Ministers, Dobris, Czechoslovakia,

June 1991,

- having regard to the Commission's communication 'A Common

Platform: Guidelines for the Community for UNCED 1992',

- having regard to the Commission's communication 'A

Community strategy to limit carbon dioxide emissions and

to improve energy efficiency',

- having regard to the report of its Committee on the

Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A3-

0363/91),

A. whereas sustainable development is "a process of change in

which the exploitation of resources, the direction of

investments, the orientation of technological development,

and institutional change are made consistent with future

as well as present needs",

B. whereas it is fundamentally necessary to define public

policy in such a way as to ensure sustainable development;

whereas this will entail citizen participation and

democratic institutions and an approach to policy which

emphasises the interdependence of environmental, social,

economic and health factors,

C. recognizing that the rich countries of the North have a

fundamental responsibility for the under-development of the

South and for the threats posed to the natural balance of

the planet,

D. whereas there is a clear and indisputable link between

poverty, ill-health, environmental degradation and

inappropriate, unsustainable development,

E. whereas the conference, at least according to its title,

is to cover development and the environment, an aspect of

development which, although extremely important, is being

increasingly neglected,

F. whereas the greenhouse effect is a worldwide phenomenon,

urgently requiring a solution in which all countries of the

world, developed and developing, are ready to participate,

G. whereas there is an urgent need to confront global

environmental and development issues, in particular the

growing poverty of a large section of humanity, climate

change, erosion of biodiversity, environmental and socio-

economic impacts of genetic engineering, the protection of

the ozone layer, and the sustainable management of forests

throughout the world,

H. whereas the UNCED process needs a considerable sharpening

of its policy focus; whereas, therefore, Parliament

proposes that UNCED participants concentrate on: the

conservation and development of forests; international

regulation of biotechnology; trade and the environment; the

interrelationship between environmental policy and health;

and the urban environment,

I. whereas the role of the Council and of its present and

future Presidencies will be crucial to the success of the

conference and of the follow-up to it,

1. Recognises that UNCED represents a unique opportunity for

the world community to acknowledge and develop policies

which recognise the essential interdependence of human life

and activity and the condition of the natural environment,

as well as the interrelationship between economic

exploitation and environmental degradation;

2. Points out that the interrelationship between development,

economic exploitation and environmental degradation favours

the richer countries, stresses that inequalities in

development are an unjust criterion for the exploitation

of the world environment, since each individual has in

principle the right to an equal share in such exploitation,

3. Considers it essential that UNCED concludes, in June 1992,

global conventions on climate change, biodiversity, and the

conservation and management of forests; and urges that

implementing provisions and practical action programmes

should be drawn up rapidly, and that these should not be

confined to experimental and/or pilot projects;

4. Recognises that it is fundamentally necessary to address

world hunger, the implications of population growth and

poverty if environmental conditions are to be safeguarded;

moreover, that global interdependence, sustainable

development and the developed world's moral responsibility

go hand in hand;

5. Would like to see a clear definition of 'sustainable

development' and points out that there is a basic link

between underdevelopment, exploitation, poverty and

environmental pollution; considers that the writing-off of

the debt burden of the Third World, an end to Community

export subsidies for agricultural products and far-

reaching democratic and social land reform in the Third

World are inescapable and essential to preserve the world

environment;

6. Considers it equally essential that UNCED should adopt, in

June 1992, practical and rapidly enforceable measures to

tackle poverty and bad development and regrets that the

preparatory conferences have attached so little importance

to these issues;

7. Considers that UNCED will be a success only if it results

in legally binding commitments in the form of specific

targets and resource transfers; calls on the Commission and

Council to indicate to other UNCED participants that the

European Community will consider UNCED to have been a

failure should it not agree binding measures;

8. Points out the alarming state of environmental damage

worldwide, which means that it is absolutely vital that the

conclusions should be binding rather than only

discretionary;

9. Considers that a healthy and viable environment is a human

right and should therefore be incorporated into the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

10. Looks forward to the adoption by UNCED of 'Agenda 21', a

work programme relating to environment and development for

the international community into the 21st century; and the

'Earth Charter', a declaration of basic principles and

individual rights relating to environment and development;

11. Emphasises the following major policy concerns which should

be addressed during the UNCED process:

(a) the conservation and development of forests, including

the negotiation of a Global Forests Convention; the

European Community should help to make this Global

Forests Convention a success by stopping the import of

wood from tropical rainforests by the end of 1992 and

should start in 1993 a major programme, FOREST, for the

reforestation in the European Community itself;

(b) the adoption of strict rules at international level

relating to the production, release and use of

genetically modified organisms, including, in relation

to international trade in this as in other policy

areas, the principles of Prior Informed Consent and of

equivalence of standards between the EC and third

countries;

(c) the urgent need to ensure that international trade

relations, such as GATT, incorporate fully

environmental considerations and are compatible with

the concept of sustainable development, in particular

by introducing special arrangements whenever vulnerable

eco-systems or populations are at risk; the Commission

is asked to develop in the short term proposals for a

sustainable form of trade, for example import taxes on

products which are not produced in a sustainable way;

(d) the role of environmental policy in the improvement of

human health and, in particular, the linkage between

health, nutrition, environment and development;

(e) the responsibility of the global community to consider

policies aimed at improving the urban environmental

conditions of developing countries;

(f) the conservation of biological diversity by integrating

protection activities into sustainable, regionally

adapted production schemes, with access, control, and

in situ preservation of genetic resources based at the

local level;

12. Further considers that it is necessary for UNCED also to

develop instruments to strengthen international cooperation

in the management of waste, including waste reduction, re-

use and safe disposal;

13. Calls on the United Nations to outlaw deliberate damage to

the environment at international level;

14. Considers that existing international law is too weak in

terms of both monitoring and penalties and the enforcement

of penalties; therefore advocates the tightening up of

international law worldwide and calls for the setting up

of an international environmental court with worldwide

jurisdiction, either at the International Court of Justice

in The Hague or at the United Nations offices in New York;

15. Considers that new international decision-making

procedures, with built-in guarantees of democracy, must be

introduced at UNCED to ensure protection of the environment

and sustainable development for all;

16. Welcomes the Commission's communication relating to a

Community strategy to limit CO2 emissions; considers,

however, that the fiscal measures indicated in this

communication should only be seen as additional to

regulatory measures, improvements in energy efficiency and

a consequent long-term reduction in the use of carbon-

based fuels;

17. Considers that the Commission's intention that its proposed

fiscal measures relating to energy production and CO2

emissions be "fiscally neutral" (and hence not result in

increases in taxation overall) would, in actual fact, be

extremely difficult to achieve;

18. Notes that application of the 'polluter pays' principle

will act as an incentive but does not provide an adequate

solution to the various problems since it is sometimes in

the interests of the polluter to pay rather than prevent

pollution arising, and no amount of money can justify

pollution;

19. Acknowledges that those energy intensive production

processes with a large involvement in international trade

(such as glass, steel, chemicals, non-ferrous metals)

require special treatment under a fiscal regime intended

to reduce CO2 emissions, and proposes therefore special

temporary subsidies for energy-saving measures for these

energy intensive production processes;

20. Remains unclear about the Commission's legislative

intentions regarding the proposed fiscal and other measures

to reduce CO2 emissions; indeed, regrets that the

Commission might submit proposals only after consensus is

reached by Council thereby tending to deprive Parliament

of its democratic role;

21. Considers, nevertheless, that the Commission's

communication on measures to counteract the greenhouse

effect represents a valuable, important and, indeed, unique

contribution by the Community, not least in the context of

the Global Climate Convention to be adopted at UNCED in

1992;

22. Considers that a worldwide energy strategy must be devised

to determine the policy required to satisfy our future

energy requirements in an equitable and sustainable manner.

This strategy must be designed to achieve an overall

consensus on a sustainable fuel package for the future. It

should set out the options for an energy policy which

satisfies the condition of sustainability. In particular,

the technical feasibility and economic benefits of using

solar energy and fusion technology should be investigated;

calls for the establishment of an International Sustainable

Energy Agency;

23. Considers that UNCED 1992 should agree on the need for

substantial resource and technology transfers from

developed to developing countries, thereby aiding the

introduction of environmentally benign technologies and

industrial processes;

24. Considers that it is necessary to promote practical

projects at all levels aimed at sustainable use of energy

and that it is therefore essential to increase the budgets

for the associated projects and programmes; there are many

conceivable projects ranging from a large-scale solar

energy project in the Sahel to promotion of the use of

energy-saving ovens;

25. Points out that the debt burden and the structural

adjustment programmes increase pressure on the environment

and therefore reiterates its call for cancellation of the

ACP countries' debt and the introduction of financial

mechanisms linking alleviation of the debt burden with

environmental protection, while respecting the wishes and

traditions of local populations;

26. Considers that reforestation programmes aimed at

biodiversity rather than monoculture should be carried out

on a large scale throughout the world particularly in areas

susceptible to soil erosion; such programmes are also

urgently required in the Member States to encourage

domestic Community timber production and to bring about a

drastic reduction in imports of tropical timber, which

would be profitable in both economic and ecological terms;

27. Instructs its Secretary-General to prepare a compilation

of Parliament's major resolutions on environment and

development adopted since 1979, for submission to UNCED at

its IVth Prep. Com. in New York in March 1992;

28. Welcomes the Council's conclusions on UNCED adopted on 12

December 1991, which recognize the principle of shared

responsibility among industrialized countries and

developing countries as regards environmental pollution,

whereby the developed countries commit themselves to

generating new funds to alleviate world environmental

problems and to increasing official development aid (ODA)

until the level of 0.7% recommended by the United Nations

is reached;

29. Reiterates its intention to be represented at UNCED in

1992, not least to underline the fact that sustainable

development will only be created through democratic and

open political institutions which engender a commitment to

environmental protection;

30. Welcomes the important role which the Community will play

in UNCED 1992 and confirms that it expects the Commission

to be particularly active in the negotiations leading up

to UNCED 1992, notwithstanding the role which will also be

played by the Council Presidency; confirms also that

Parliament has an important contribution to make to UNCED

1992;

31. Affirms its intention of being associated also with the

follow-up to the June 1992 meeting of UNCED, in particular

monitoring the implementation of commitments made in UNCED

and other subsequent work;

32. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Council, Commission and the governments of the Member

States.9(b)RESOLUTION A3-0024/92

on the need for a convention on the protection of forests

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr

Chanterie and others on the need for a convention on the

protection of forests (B3-0666/91),

- having regard to its resolutions of 25 October 1990 on the

conservation of tropical forests, in which the Commission

is urged to promote a worldwide convention on the

protection of forests,

- having regard to the G7 Declaration (Houston 1990) signed

by the Commission expressing a willingness to open

negotiations on a worldwide convention on forests,

- having regard to its resolution of 26 May 1989 on

regulating the trade in tropical woods and tropical wood

products as a means of tropical forest management and

conservation,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on the

Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection and the

opinion of the Committee on Development and Cooperation

(A3-0024/92),

A. whereas international mechanisms and instruments relating

to forests, in particular the Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Tropical Forestry

Action Programme (TFAP), the International Tropical Timber

Agreement (ITTA) and the forthcoming conventions on climate

and biodiversity, still display too many shortcomings and

inadequacies as a whole to be able to offer adequate

protection and management for forests in an international

context,

B. having regard to the impasse in which talks on the

continuation of the TFAP are now blocked,

C. whereas the ITTA, already extended on two occasions, is to

be renegotiated in 1993,

D. convinced that there is a major need for a worldwide,

comprehensive and legally binding instrument for the

different national and international initiatives on forests

to secure internationally coordinated cooperation, the

laying down of priorities and standards and to provide

financing for protection and management,

E. convinced that the necessary structure can best be

established in the form of a convention on the protection

and responsible use of forests in all areas of the world,

F. whereas such a convention may, if based on the principle

of multiple use, provide an example of the sound

management of natural resources,

G. whereas the emphasis in such a convention must be on

protection combined with responsible use adapted to the

needs of local populations (in particular forest dwellers),

H. referring to the more detailed justifications for such a

convention set out in the explanatory statement to report

A3-0024/92,

I. referring to the United Nations Conference on Environment

and Development (UNCED, Brazil 1992) as in principle

providing an appropriate (but not exclusive) platform for

securing a worldwide consensus on forests,

J. whereas the slow progress made at talks during the

preparatory assemblies (PrepComs) for the UNCED in relation

to forests requires more assertive contributions from the

European Community and its Member States,

K. noting that many African countries, partly owing to

language problems, did not have the opportunity of

participating fully in the discussions during the PrepComs,

L. noting that the Commission of the EC has done little in

practice to secure implementation of the views set out in

its communication on conserving tropical forests, with the

result that activities initiated and supported by the EC

on tropical forests have to be implemented in the absence

of a clear framework or an explicit legal base and without

a clear ordering of priorities or of the mechanisms and

criteria of assessment,

M. whereas a quantitative target for forest extension in the

Community would be a fundamental element of a European

forest policy, while at the same time it would serve as a

necessary signal in the light of the UNCED deliberations,

N. noting that the Commission does not have permanent staff

members with specific expertise in tropical forests, a

situation that is cause for great concern given the extent

of the activities relating to tropical forests supported

by the EC,

O. alarmed at the lack of Commission expertise on tropical

forests and by the fact that the employment of two of the

present three experts, seconded to the Commission by Member

States, will end in March 1992,

P. whereas the European Community could anticipate the terms

of a future convention on forests by implementing, as EC

legislation, as many as possible of the provisions of such

a convention that would apply to the EC, as a contribution

both to its policy on forests in the European Community and

to the policy to be drawn up on forests outside the

Community,

Q. whereas present activities within the International

Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the cooperation

mechanisms that the TFAP can provide at national level

create the conditions for the European Community to prepare

cooperation agreements with producer countries of

(tropical) woods as a contribution to regulating trade in

woods in conjunction with sustainable forest management and

possible financial and technical support,

R. pointing out that in relation to the ITTO, the EC is giving

priority to the forestry protection aspect, although it is

difficult for the Commission to meet its obligations in

this connection as long as it is bound in relation to the

ITTO meetings by directives that are drawn up solely by the

Council's Working Party on Primary Products (PROBA) and not

by, for example, the Council of Environment Ministers,

S. welcoming the fact that under the budget procedure for

1992, it has approved two items (B7-3000 and B7-3010)

allocating substantial appropriations to tropical forest

conservation,

I. Urges the Commission:

1. to continue to intervene actively, both in the UNCED and

through any other appropriate channels, in favour of a

convention on the protection and responsible management of

forests worldwide, and to be guided in that connection by

the draft convention and associated draft explanatory text

attached to this report;

2. to give first priority in future negotiations on a

convention on forests to advocating strict provisions

relating both to protection and to responsible use

compatible with the interests of local population groups

(in particular forest dwellers);

3. to adopt a strategy on forestry, before the UNCED in June

1992, with the objective of achieving a net forest

expansion of at least twelve million hectares by the year

2000 as compared to the year 1991;

4. to give active support to countries of the South, in

particular those that are parties to the Lomé IV

Convention, in its approach to the debate on a convention

on forests;

5. to make its best efforts to ensure that international

mechanisms, developments and negotiations, in particular

the ITTA, TFAP and CITES, are made the subject of talks on

future conventions on forests and on climate and

biodiversity in relation to forests, and are organized and

coordinated so as to complement each other;

6. to draw up a policy and specific legislation to ensure that

actions supported by the EC on forests outside the

Community, in particular tropical forests, are given a

clear direction and have priorities set for them, together

with criteria for their assessment;

7. to employ in established posts within its relevant

Directorates-General at least three experts on tropical

forests;

8. to arrange for directives on Commission contributions to

ITTO meetings to be drawn up not by PROBA exclusively but

on an inter-departmental basis;9.to make greater use of regular and formal consultation of

governmental and non-governmental experts from the Member

States;

10. to make a start immediately in 1992 with implementing the

above recommendations, and to make use of the amounts

allocated to budget items B7-3000 and B7-3010 to that end;

II. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Council, the Commission and the Governments of the Member

States.