Underlying Causes of Deforestation: Workshop on Trade

Conclusions and Recommendations of the Latinamerican Workshop on the Impacts of an Eventual Millenium Round of the WTO on Forests
Quito, 6 and 7 November 1999

Organized by the Joint Initiative on the Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation, with support from UNEP, IUCN-South America, Friends of the Earth International and Acción Ecológica/Friends of the Earth-Ecuador. The workshop was attended by over 30 representatives of Indigenous Peoples' Organizations, Governments, NGOs, farmers' groups and universities from 15 different countries. This document only contains the recommendations which were suggested by the working groups and adopted by the entire workshop in unanimity.

Consumption and Sustainable Societies

1.1 There is a need to change the current consumption patterns and economic principles, which sustain the continuous growth of production.

1.2 The knowledge and profound analysis of the multi-sectoral aspects of trade in forest products, which include not only market factors but also social, environmental and sustainability factors, should be expanded.

1.3 The role of the State should be strengthened to ensure it plays a predominant role as regulator and administrator of the relationship between the market and society. Governments, especially in developed countries, should implement effective policies to reduce consumption of forest products.

1.4 NGOs should keep in mind that the implementation and dissemination of better consumption patterns form fundamental tasks to achieve our goals. These objectives should be translated into better working methods, and into outreach strategies towards other groups and individuals. NGOs should develop massive campaigns against unsustainable consumption, especially in the countries of the North.

1.5 Global targets should be established for the substitution of paper produced entirely on basis of primary materials by recycled paper. For governments in developed countries, the year 2001 should form the target. The implementation of recycling policies in developing countries requires educational processes and the support of other countries to implement the proper technology. Governments should monitor the price of recycled paper and ensure that it is no more expensive than non-recycled paper. Governments and NGOs should promote the use of recycled paper in didactic and other education materials for schools.

2. Education and Information for the Consumer

2.1 The awareness of civil society and government authorities should be raised concerning the relationship between consumption, trade liberalization and overexploitation of forests and natural resources in general.

2.2 Priority should be given to educating decision-making entities at the political level about the environmental services of forests, and the joint economic value of forest components, which is based upon these services.

2.3 There is a need for better education of civil society and traditional communities (indigenous and non-indigenous) about forest-related issues, especially certification.

2.4 There should be recognition of the right of the consumer to have access to broad and reliable information at the moment of buying a product, and there should be control mechanisms to verify this information. This way he/she can opt for environmentally and socially sound and sustainable processes and thus influence the market. Certification and labeling are useful tools to comply with this objective. It should be acknowledged that persons have the right to know where their products come from. In this context there is a need to develop education and information campaigns. Consumers should be informed of the unsustainability of regular wood production and the better value of sustainable wood production.

2.5 The public opinion should be informed of the social and environmental impact of the substitution of natural forests by plantations of mono-cultures.

2b. Certification

2b.1 Forestry certification forms a useful tool, which should be improved and monitored. The development of independent, participatory systems of certification/labeling, which recognize the interests of society and especially of those communities which depend on forests, should be promoted. NGOs should only initiate management plans or certification processes after prior informed consent of local communities. The criteria for certification should be adapted to the ecological, social, economic and cultural reality of traditional forest management by community groups, and no procedural requirements should be imposed which they can impossibly comply with.

2b.2 Certification should not see the forest as a source of wood resources only.

2b.3 Agricultural certification should take on board social and biodiversity-related factors.

2b.4 Governments should only improve the process-related aspects of certification, and ensure that they are accessible for traditional communities and small forest-owners.

3. Sustainable Production

3.1 Governments, NGOs, certifying agencies, and universities should systematize and take into account traditional knowledge of forest management in order to establish basic standards and criteria to be taken into account in the formulation of development plans, in the formation of experts and in certification processes. Forests should be evaluated through criteria for planification and integrated resource management. Indicators should be developed for sustainable forest management in the Latin American Region.

3.2 Indigenous and traditional knowledge and knowledge of other groups which have a specific relationship with forests, like women, farmers, etc. should be strengthened and properly valuated. Communities which depend on forests should disseminate information relating to these forest ecosystems. The transfer of technology to Indigenous Peoples should complement traditional knowledge.

3.3 Forests should not be seen as a rich source of wood only, while ignoring their biodiversity and the traditional communities depending on them. Mechanisms should be established to recognize the values of forests through payment for the environmental services they provide.

3.4 Environmental impact studies should be realized before initiatives to exploit natural resources are undertaken.

3.5 Indigenous communities which sustainably manage forests with a commercial purpose should be given equal treatment at the level of legislation. Financial facilities for small-scale forestry projects at the community-level should be developed.

3.6 The definition and implementation of forest and agricultural policies should take into account local participation, also to avoid them being imposed by Northern countries. Governments should offer space for the equitable participation of community-based organizations in the definition and implementation of their own environmental and other forest-related policies.

3.7 Countries should be stimulated to take measures to restrict the export of non-manufactured forest products.

3.8 Awareness building and mobilization campaigns should be implemented against the development and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The development of joint government positions in opposition to the use of GMOs should be promoted.

3.9 The environmental and social impacts of tree plantations should be widely disseminated. Tree plantations should respond to a participatory territorial planning process. Environmental laws which regulate large-scale plantations should be promoted and improved. This includes the requirement of Environmental Impact Assessments.

3.10 Forest policies and their implementation should be part of the mandate of a Ministry of the Environment, and not of governmental entities dedicated to production.

3b. Agricultural Subsidies, including subsidies for Tree Plantations

3b.1 Subsidies, which distort the costs of forest products and their environmental costs should be reduced, also to redistribute consumption in a more equitable manner. Production-oriented subsidies should be reduced, in order to reduce consumption and the pressure upon the environment. The reduction should gradually lead to their entire elimination.

3b.2 Incentives should be reoriented to ecological management of natural forests and agroforestry systems. Eventual subsidies should be subject to specific studies on their social, cultural and geographical impacts and consequences. Incentives should only support small producers and not large investors.

3 b.3 Governments should eliminate all subsidies for agricultural production and replace them for support to sustainable rural development, including health and education services.

4. The negotiations within the World Trade Organization

4.1 The WTO should not incorporate more themes than the ones already defined in the in-built agenda, because of the consequences these new issues could have for Indigenous Peoples, forests and sustainability in general. There should be a moratorium on further broadening the free market, until an evaluation of market liberalization has been undertaken, as well as an audit of the role of the WTO.

4.2 Governments should define and implement policies oriented to sustainability and changing consumption patterns. Policies to change consumption patterns form an implementation of a multilateral environmental agreement (the decisions of the Commission on Sustainable Development), and the WTO should not obstruct them. These policies should form a reference framework for their decision-making and the position of the country in the negotiations about global trade instruments. As long as this has not happened, governments should oppose the accelerated liberalization of trade in forest products. They should not accept further deregulation of tariff and non-tariff barriers for forest products in general.

4.3 The WTO and other institutions should discuss the theme of tree plantations within the framework of their eventual discussions on agriculture and not within the framework of their eventual discussions on forests.

4.4 Laws which protect biodiversity and the intellectual property right of traditional communities should be developed. As far as biodiversity is concerned, the WTO and its agreements should be subordinated to the principles of the Convention on Biodiversity.

4.5 Developing countries and NGOs should develop joint positions for the WTO.

4.6 Export policies should not be promoted. Instead, policies should focus on combating hunger and safeguarding food security. The intrusion of the sovereign rights of countries by the WTO should be opposed.

4.7 The WTO should include representatives of Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities in its negotiations. Moreover, government delegations to the Seattle Meeting should include representatives of Indigenous Peoples, NGOs and trade unions. Governments and the WTO should improve their communication with their own Ministries, with NGOs, and with civil society at large. Trade negotiations must be more transparent. The policies of the WTO should be known and discussed at the community level.

4.8 The work of NGOs should be guided by the positions of community-based organizations involved in these discussions and decisions. NGOs should not support broadening the negotiations of the WTO or including negotiations on a Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI).

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