B3-1439, 1444 and 1476/93

Resolution on forest fires

The European Parliament,

A.whereas the alarming destruction wrought by forest fires still accounts for appreciably larger areas of land than are afforested each year, despite the fact that fire-fighting techniques have improved and increasingly substantial sums are being spent in all the Member States to combat this scourge,

B.whereas in the summer of this year, to 19 September, there were approximately 49 000 forest fires in the five southern Member States which destroyed 345 000 hectares of forest and scrubland,

C.whereas two thirds of Europe's forests, i.e. 35 million hectares, are exposed permanently or at certain times of the year to serious risk of fire,

D.whereas it is essential to prevent forest fires from jeopardizing or even cancelling out the effects of the programmes and investments being undertaken under the Community support frameworks or in connection with back-up measures for the common agricultural policy,

E.whereas 13 persons died in the recent fire on the Greek island of Ikaria,

F.whereas forests are at last receiving increased attention in the Community; whereas there is growing recognition of their essential economic role, their crucial economic importance and the many essential contributions they make to conservation and to preserving a well-ordered rural environment,

1.Calls on the Commission to report to Parliament at an early date on the forest fires that occurred in summer 1993 and to provide an assessment of the measures undertaken in each Member State and at Community level, including administrative action and provisions under the heading of civil and criminal law;

2.Calls on the Commission, in addition to showing solidarity and giving support to the families of those who died, to grant emergency financial aid to the worst hit areas, i.e. in Corsica (France), the Autonomous Community of Valencia (Spain), the District of Coimbra (Portugal), and certain Italian and Greek regions, for which reafforestation programmes will need to be implemented as a matter of priority;

3.Calls for a Community contribution to enable national land registers to be drawn up forthwith in those Member States that do not already have one;

4.Calls on the Commission to incorporate in the Social Fund a programme for training local officials in combating fires and providing the public with the necessary information, through specific guidelines, to avoid casualties;

5.Proposes to the Commission that the next framework programme of RTD and demonstration activities (1994-1998) should incorporate a proper research programme on the underlying factors and processes involved in forest fires and the means of preventing and containing them more effectively;

6.Calls on the Commission to make genuine provision for forests in the new common agricultural policy with a view to enhancing and protecting rural areas and providing farmers with viable alternatives, not least by increasing the appropriations entered against the relevant budget heading to finance back-up measures;

7.Calls on the Commission to continue along the lines charted at the May 1992 'Agriculture' Council held in Portugal and, as a matter of urgency, to draw up a unified global strategy for forests, to operate in conjunction with the CAP, laying down the basic principles to be observed, the objectives to be attained, the range of action to be covered, and the means and measures to be employed.

8.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.