>
> At 07:33 PM 2/11/97 +0100, you wrote:
>
> >Is anybody interested to discuss the opposition of several environmental
> groups (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, National Wildlife
> Federation, etc.) to the negotiation of a global treaty on forests, as
> expressed on Monday at a news conference in New York?
>
>
> I must not be getting the right news sources; can you explain more about
> this? * On what grounds are these groups opposing the global treaty on
> forests?
> * What are some essential elements of this treaty?
> * Who are the negotiating parties (who do they represent)?
> * Who has developed this treaty?
>
> I would be very interested in a discussion on this subject. Thank you for
> more information.
>
>
> Margaret Puckette
> Environmental Policy Program
> Oregon State University
>
The text of the press release:
OVER EIGHTY ORGANIZATIONS FROM SIX CONTINENTS ANNOUNCE
OPPOSITION TO GLOBAL FOREST CONVENTION
New York CONTACT:
10 February 1997 Bill Mankin
Global Forest Policy Project
TEL: 202-797-6560
FAX: 202-797-6560
E-Mail: <bmankin@igc.apc.org>
The following declaration was released today at a press
conference in New York on the eve of the fourth and final session
of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Forests:
INTERNATIONAL CITIZEN DECLARATION AGAINST
A GLOBAL FOREST CONVENTION
Because we are first and foremost concerned about the fate of the
world's forests and the people who depend on forests for their
subsistence and survival, the undersigned citizens' organizations
hereby declare our firm opposition to the negotiation of a global
forest convention at this time. We call on world leaders to reject
a convention, and instead to pursue an alternative strategy to
safeguard the world's forests from further decline.
Our organizations, representing millions of people worldwide,
believe that a forest convention negotiated at this time not only
will fail to effectively safeguard the world's forests, but could
actually threaten them. We believe negotiation of such a premature
convention:
* ENSHRINING WEAK STANDARDS
will only be able to achieve political consensus on the
weakest, lowest-common-denominator commitments, and could
formalize unacceptably weak forest management standards,
thereby giving a global 'green light' to unsustainable forest
practices and crippling several existing, and stronger, forest
initiatives;
* FAVORING COMMERCIAL TRADE INTERESTS
will be dominated and driven by powerful timber and commercial
trade interests, and fail to address the predatory and
unethical behavior of an increasing number of trans-national
industrial timber corporations;
* UNDERMINING THE BIODIVERSITY CONVENTION
will undermine the role of the historic Convention on
Biological Diversity and other existing, yet largely
unfulfilled, international and regional environmental
agreements and initiatives;
* AVOIDING THE REAL ISSUES
will ignore or avoid some of the world's most critical and
controversial forest problems, many of which lie outside the
traditional 'forest' sector, and will fail to effectively
address the chronic underlying causes of forest loss and
degradation;
* THREATENING CITIZEN INITIATIVES
will risk undermining important non-governmental initiatives
(e.g., the independent certification of forest management and
forest products), and could undermine the ability of
indigenous peoples and traditional rural communities to help
decide the fate of their own forests; and
* DELAYING DECISIVE ACTION
will stall or block action on a wide range of critical forest
problems during years of lengthy debate, negotiation, and
ratification -- a waste of scarce time and resources that
could be better applied to solving real forest problems and
implementing existing agreements.
There is no clear evidence that a global forest convention is
either necessary or desirable. Despite repeated calls by citizen
groups for such a study, a thorough assessment of existing forest-
related agreements and institutions has never been undertaken to
determine what, if anything, is missing that could only be
addressed by a new global convention.
The overriding interest of our organizations is not in documents
and protracted debate, but in solutions and results. The vehicle
is not the goal. Unfortunately, some convention proponents seem
far more interested in the 'idea' of a convention, or in
proclaiming their support for a convention, rather than in what it
would contain or whether it would actually solve forest problems.
Furthermore, until more governments implement their existing
commitments to protect forests and use them sustainably, it is
difficult to have any confidence that they will effectively
implement a new convention, whatever its contents.
In our view, to suggest at this time that a forest convention would
help safeguard the world's forests is, at best, naive, and would
seriously mislead the public. At worst it would betray many well-
intentioned heads-of-state and other political leaders who may be
seeking an effective response to public demand for more sustainable
forest management.
AN ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY
A much more effective response to that public demand would make
full use of existing international agreements and mechanisms to
take timely action; would take a strategic, problem-solving
approach to eliminating the underlying causes of global forest
decline; and would build broader international consensus through
a variety of regional, bilateral and focused multilateral
agreements. The most important components of such a strategy would
include:
- Reforming agriculture, trade, development, land tenure and
macro-economic policies that undermine sustainable forest
management, and addressing the impact of forest product
consumption patterns.
- Prohibiting trade-distorting policies, particularly subsidies,
that undermine sustainable forest management.
- Expanding the use of democratic principles and processes to
further empower civil society to implement sustainable forest
management, and securing the lands and customary rights of
indigenous and other traditional peoples.
- Thoroughly assessing existing forest-related agreements,
institutions and programs; and establishing an effective
international mechanism to coordinate, regularly monitor and
report on their implementation, to increase their efficiency,
and to eliminate redundancies and wasted resources.
- Curtailing the trade in illegally harvested forest products.
- Setting strong and equitable forest concession standards for
trans-national corporations.
- Ensuring the protection of the world's forest biodiversity by,
among other means, filling the gaps in the global network of
protected forest areas.
Finally, we must emphasize that we make this declaration only after
careful consideration. We acknowledge that multilateral policy
instruments of the right kind at the right time can play an
important role in promoting sustainable development. Nevertheless,
until the aforementioned conditions change, our organizations will
remain opposed to the negotiation of a global forest convention.
We urge governments to give serious consideration to the concerns
we have expressed in this declaration. As the multilateral forest
policy debate continues, our organizations stand ready to engage in
full and open dialogue with policy-makers both within and outside
of government to explore the most effective way forward.
This declaration is an expression of the views of the following
organizations:
AFRICA
African Forest Action Network (AFAN)
Forest Action Network - Kenya
Green Earth Organization - Ghana
ASIA & RUSSIA
Citizens Alliance for Saving the Atmosphere and the Earth (CASA)-
Japan
Consumers Union of Japan
Far Eastern Information Center - Russia
Friends of the Earth-Japan
Friends of Siberian Forests - Russia
Indonesian Green Nature Foundation
Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment
Indonesian Tropical Institute
Japan Rainforest Protection Lawyers' League (JARPLL)
Japan Tropical Forest Action Network (JATAN)
Peoples' Forum 2001 Japan
Plasma Foundation - Indonesia
Sarawak Campaign Committee - Japan
Socio-Ecological Union - Russia
Telapak Indonesia Foundation
Utan Group - Japan
WALHI / Friends of the Earth-Indonesia
EUROPE
AK Regenwald Aschaffenburg - Germany
ARA (Working Group on Rainforests and Biodiversity) - Germany
Amici della Terra Italia - Friends of the Earth Italy
Bruno-Manser-Fonds - Switzerland
Coalition for Environment and Development - Finland
Friends of the Earth-England, Wales & Northern Ireland - U.K.
Friends of the Earth-Finland
Irish Woodworkers for Africa - Ireland
Netherlands Committee for the IUCN
Pro REGENWALD - Germany
Robin Wood e.V. - Germany
Reforest the Earth - U.K.
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation
Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) - Netherlands
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
ALTER VIDA - Paraguay
Amazon NGO Network (GTA - Grupo de Trabalho Amazonico) - Brazil
Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios Comunitarios (CIEC) -
Bolivia
Comite Nacional Pro-Defensa de la Fauna y Flora (CODEFF) - Chile
Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible A.C. -
Mexico
Friends of the Earth Amazonia Program - Brazil
Fundacion Ecotropico - Colombia
Fundacion Natura - Ecuador
Fundacion Peruana para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza - Peru
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales A.C. - Mexico
Instituto AMBIO - Costa Rica
Instituto Sul Mineiro de Estudo e Preservacao da Natureza -
Brazil
Movimiento Ambientalista Nicaraguense (MAN) - Nicaragua
Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental (SPDA) - Peru
NORTH AMERICA
Alberta ENGO Forest Caucus - Canada
The Arctic to Amazonia Alliance - U.S.
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Edmonton Chapter
Center for International Environmental Law - U.S.
Cochrane Ecological Institute - Canada
Cultural Survival Canada
Defenders of Wildlife - U.S.
Environmental Defense Fund - U.S.
Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs - U.S.
Friends of the Athabasca Environmental Association - Canada
Friends of the Christmas Mountains - Canada
Friends of the Earth-U.S.
Good Wood Alliance - U.S.
Humber Environment Action Group - Canada
Manitoba Future Forest Alliance - Canada
Manitoba Naturalists Society - Canada
National Wildlife Federation - U.S.
Natural Resources Defense Council - U.S.
Northwatch - Canada
Nova Scotia Environment and Development Coalition - Canada
Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society - Canada
Pacific Environment and Resources Center - U.S.
Rainforest Action Network - U.S.
Sierra Club - U.S.
Sierra Club of Canada
Smith Environmental Association - Canada
Voice of the Earth Society - Canada
Western Ancient Forest Campaign - U.S.
OCEANIA
NFN Southern Hemisphere - Australia
Rainforest Information Centre - Australia
INTERNATIONAL
Friends of the Earth International
Greenpeace International
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International
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