27.11.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 286/5

A.

whereas the UN Millennium Declaration calls on all States to ensure policy coherence for development,

B.

whereas the EU is strongly committed to ensuring PCD in accordance with Article 178 of the EC Treaty, which stipulates that the Community shall take account of the objectives of Community policy in the sphere of development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries,

C.

whereas paragraph 35 of the abovementioned European Consensus on Development stipulates that ‘the EU is fully committed to taking action to advance Policy Coherence for Development in a number of areas’, and that ‘it is important that non-development policies assist developing countries’ efforts in achieving the MDGs’,

D.

whereas the abovementioned biennial report of the Commission on PCD finds, among other things, that:

E.

whereas the conclusions of the Council of 24 May 2005 contain the commitment to enhance the EU's PCD, in particular in twelve priority policy areas, including trade, fisheries, environment, climate change, migration and employment,

F.

whereas the two most important biological natural resources exploited by the EU in West Africa are fish and timber as, according to the Commission's Directorate General for Trade, more than 80 % of the fish and timber exported by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) goes to the EU,

G.

Whereas the UN defines West Africa as the westernmost region of Africa comprising the following 16 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cap Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo (that is to say, ECOWAS plus Mauritania) (8), and whereas, moreover, Cameroon is often seen as being part of West Africa,

1.

Welcomes the increased attention and commitment to PCD by the Commission, the Council and the Member States, as demonstrated by the 12 PCD commitments, the biennial reporting and several other new mechanisms;

2.

Stresses the importance of policy coherence as one of the EU's contributions to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;

3.

Underlines the fact that political will and commitment to take developing countries’ interests into consideration in all the policy fields that affect them is crucial for achieving better policy coherence;

4.

Draws attention to the strong inter-linkages between the EU's development and fisheries policies and development and timber trading policies, and stresses that measures taken in the policy areas of EU fisheries and timber have a strong impact on local sustainable development;

5.

Recalls that the abovementioned COP13 acknowledged the significant contribution of deforestation to greenhouse gas emissions and thus to climate change, and emphasised the need to support developing countries in their efforts towards the preservation and sustainable management of their forests; urges the EU and the Member States to make substantial financial contributions to international initiatives for the preservation, sustainable use and management of forests in developing countries and in particular for support to African countries;

6.

Is concerned that tropical deforestation is one of the drivers of climate change, responsible for about 20 % of the total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions each year, and destroying the livelihoods of millions of local and indigenous communities;

7.

Is concerned that cheap imports of illegal timber and forestry products, together with non-compliance by some industry players with basic social and environmental standards, destabilises international markets and reduces the tax revenues of producer countries;

8.

Is concerned that, according to FAO data, less than 7 % of the global forest area is eco-labelled and less than 5 % of tropical forests are managed in a sustainable way;

9.

Welcomes the fact that in West Africa, the Commission is engaged in official negotiations with Ghana and Cameroon and in preliminary discussions with Liberia, with a view to signing Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) to control the legality of timber products exported directly to the European Union;

10.

Emphasises that all forest preservation schemes, including the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and FLEGT, need to safeguard the traditional and customary rights of indigenous and local communities to the use of their forests in accordance with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People;

11.

Calls on the Commission to respond favourably to requests to finance sustainable forest management initiatives within the framework of aid programming and Country Strategy Papers;

12.

Calls on the Commission to present a communication determining the EU's approach, involvement and support for current and future funding mechanisms for promoting forest protection and reducing emissions from deforestation, including under the UNFCCC/Kyoto Protocol and the FCPF; this communication should outline the EU's commitment to provide funds to help developing countries to protect their forests, to finance forest protected areas and to promote economic alternatives to forest destruction;

13.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to speed up the implementation of the abovementioned EU FLEGT action plan and regulation aimed at combating illegal logging and related trade and enhancing the consumption of wood products produced in a sustainable way and to increase significantly the number of partner countries;

14.

In particular, calls on the Commission to propose within this legislative period a comprehensive legislative proposal preventing the placing on the market of timber and timber products derived from illegal and destructive sources;

15.

Urges the Member States and the Commission to speed up the adoption and implementation of a green public procurement policy at EU, national and local level, which favours the purchase of eco-labelled wood products, especially those certified according to the standard of the Forest Stewardship Council;

16.

Stresses the high level of dependence of countries in West Africa on fisheries as a source of employment, food security, proteins, government revenues and foreign exchange, as illustrated by a current case study published by the International Organization for Migration suggesting that one of the most important causes of migration from Senegal is the decline of local fisheries industries;

17.

Notes with satisfaction, and encourages, the progress made in this field, but continues to express its concern at the slowness and reluctance with which some countries in the region are becoming involved in the protection of their own resources; regrets that, despite the efforts made by the EU within the framework of the partnership agreements, the sustainability of natural biological resources, including fishery resources, and the benefits of sustainable exploitation still do not represent a priority for these countries but often remain subordinate to other political and economic interests;

18.

Urges the Commission therefore to look into the matter and the clear link between migration levels of immigrants from West African countries to the EU and the heavy decline of fish stocks off the West African coast;

19.

Calls on the Commission and the governments of the West African countries to curb illegal fishing, and to monitor and control fish stocks in order to put an end to the heavy decline in fish stocks in the West African seas;

20.

Considers that fisheries resources in West Africa represent a significant potential for local development and contribution to food security; notes with concern that according to the most recent scientific assessments by the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic from 2006, many stocks in West Africa are over-exploited and at least one is at risk of extinction;

21.

Considers that an evaluation of the extent of coherence between the Community's development policy and its fisheries policy involves many aspects beyond the bilateral fisheries partnership agreements signed with several third countries in West Africa; equally important are Community policies with respect to:

22.

Asks the Commission, in the light of the not yet fully agreed and signed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the West African countries, to proceed in line with the PCD agenda when negotiating agreements for timber and fish as part of the EPA process;

23.

Exhorts the Commission once again to act on the ultimate objective of the EPAs, which is advancing regional integration and strengthening the economic position of the ACP countries, and in this context stresses in particular the position of the West African countries;

24.

Considers that the EU's fisheries policy, including in its relations with West Africa, must respect the abovementioned FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries of 1995;

25.

Expresses satisfaction that seven countries of West Africa have signed fisheries agreements with the EU under the new formula of partnership agreements in which, in addition to the initial objective of protecting the interests of the EU fleet, clauses are included by means of which the third country must establish plans that will guarantee the sustainable exploitation of its fishery resources;

26.

Considers that the past influx of fishing capacity into a region that has comparatively weak systems of fisheries management and insufficient means to survey and control the activities of fishing vessels has contributed to the problematic status of fishery resources in the region; and thus welcomes the termination in 2005 of subsidies for the transfer of fishing capacities from the EU to West Africa;

27.

Notes that when the EU reduces its activities in West African waters, their place may be taken by fleets from other countries, which may not respect the same principles of sustainability;

28.

Believes that, as regards fishery resources in particular, the following aspects need to be strengthened as a priority:

29.

Calls on the EU to decouple the level of payment for agreements from the level of fishing opportunities that are granted in return, which can act as a disincentive for the third country to reduce access when stocks are depleted or lead to sudden and significant reductions in income for the third-country government;

30.

Calls on the EU to conduct the following actions in order to render fishing activities in West Africa sustainable and coherent with the Community development policy, whether under the terms of a partnership agreement or by private agreement:

31.

Recognises that, even though the financial contributions under the fisheries agreements have come to represent a substantial share of the total budgets of some third countries, to which must be added the investment made by shipowners and the cooperation, including financial cooperation, provided by the Member States on a bilateral basis, cooperation for sustainable development cannot come from the common fisheries policy alone and the remaining Community policies also need to be brought into play, particularly development cooperation policy, in order to bring about political and socio-economic conditions that will enable those countries to redirect administrative and financial efforts so that they can fully and sustainably benefit from the potential offered by their natural biological resources;

32.

Urges better coordination between the Commission and the Member States in their development cooperation projects, including when setting priorities and objectives;

33.

Deplores the fact that the Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) of the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements of May 2007 commissioned by the Commission fails to investigate the forestry sectors and only touches on fisheries questions;

34.

Requests the Commission to:

35.

Concludes that the FLEGT process and the reformed Fisheries Partnership Agreements of the new generation since 2003 represent important starting points for development-friendly policies; emphasises, however, that the fishing and timber policies of the EU towards West Africa need to be broadened and enhanced in order to enable true PCD;

36.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the the Council, Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Secretariats of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, ECOWAS, the African Union, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission and the Fisheries Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic, the governments of all ECOWAS countries, as well as Mauritania and Cameroon.