 |
|
|
|
United
Nations Conference for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to
the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994, 4th part |
|
1627
January 2006 | Geneva, Switzerland
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Highlights
from Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Negotiations at the UN Conference on the Negotiation of the
Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber
Agreement, 1994 (ITTA, 1994), Fourth Part moved forward in
achieving agreement on a number of key issues. Delegates met
all day in two working groups. Working Group I (WGI) managed
to secure agreement on Preamble and articles on Decisions
and Recommendations of the Council and Special Vote. Working
Group II (WGII) discussed finance articles, agreed on
reference to special vote in numerous articles, and broke
into a contact group on entry into force. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Working
Group I
WGI got off to a fast start approving Article 12 and
clearing all paragraphs referencing special vote, slowed
down to through obstacles requiring more time or additional
consultation and staggered to a halt on the surprising issue
of the term “governments”
in the EC Membership. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Simone Meira Dias, Brazil, favored
maintaining reference in the Preamble to the
need for “enhanced” and “predictable” financial
resources from a broad donor community to help
achieving the Agreement’s Objectives |
|
 |
Stephanie Caswell, US, proposed to clean
the text to “the Council may adjust the minimum
percentage required for a special vote by
consumer members if it deems it necessary,” and
noted that it refers only to Consumers |
|
 |
James K. Gasana, Switzerland, requested
that Chair Attah clarified that Article 15 includes civil society
participation |
|
|
|
|
Regarding the Sessions of the Council, Miyano Michiko, Japan,
preferred deleting “at least” to limit the
number of regular sessions |
|
 |
On Admission of Observers, Ouro - Djeri Essowe,
Togo, suggested deleting mention of Article 20
and 29 |
|
 |
Sheam Satkuru-Granzella,
Malaysia, stressed that reference to
certification had prejudiced other trade
agreements |
|
|
|
|
|
j-tn.jpg) |
Left to right: Stephanie Caswell, US,
James Gasana, Switzerland, and Jacques Borel,
Switzerland |
|
-tn.jpg) |
Left to right: Flip van Helden, Netherlands, and John Bazill,
European Commission |
|
|
|
|
 |
Malaysian delegation discuss with WGI Chair.
Left to right: Fredua Agyeman,
Ghana, Sheam Satkuru-Granzella,
Malaysia,
WGI
Chair Alhassan Attah, Ghana, and
Aziyah Mdhd, Malaysia |
|
 |
Left to right: Flip van Helden,
Netherlands,
Sheam Satkuru-Granzella,
Malaysia,
and
Wan Zaidi Bin Wan Abdullah,
Malaysia |
|
|
|
|
 |
Left to right: Erika del Rocio López Rojas,
Mexico, and
Aziyah Mdhd, Malaysia |
|
 |
Left to right: Sheam Satkuru-Granzella,
Malaysia, Iwan Krolis,
Suriname, and Bjorg Merethe Luis, Norway |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Working
Group II
Working Group II discussed finances; amendments to the
agreement; establishing or dissolving commitees; legal
issues such as signature, ratification and entry into force;
and the application of “Special Vote” to articles on project
activities, relief from obligations, exclusion, duration,
extension and termination. |
|
|
|
-tn.jpg) |
WGII Chair Jürgen Blaser introduced a contact
group’s compromise text describing the
Administrative Account and assessment of
contributions to it. Left to right:
WGII Chair Jürgen Blaser, Switzerland, and
Lisanne Losier, UNCTAD |
|
-tn.jpg) |
Participants during the Working Group II |
|
|
|
|
-tn.jpg) |
On assesment of contributions, Daniel Birchmeier, Switzerland,
called for further consideration of his original
proposal of 40-60 ratio between Producer and
Consumer contributions |
|
-tn.jpg) |
On Administrative Account, Zhang Kening, China,
proposed alternative text on using the ratio
applied to Producer members for assessment
of developing Consumer country contributions |
|
-tn.jpg) |
Enzo
Barattini,
European Commission, highlighted links between
sub-paragraphs on a cap and on differentiated shares
for Producers and Consumers, noting that if the cap
were increased to 20% then the sharing ratio should
remain at 70-30 |
|
|
|
-tn.jpg) |
Marcel Vernooij, Netherlands,
opposed a proposal by Mexico that called for
returning to the text of ITTA, 1994 on the article
on Entry into Force |
|
-tn.jpg) |
David Brooks, US, supported
JAPAN’s proposal for a 50% cap, and
expressed openness to a compromise at 40% |
|
-tn.jpg) |
On Entry into Force, Ramón Carrillo Arrellane,
Mexico, called for returning to the text of the ITTA,
1994 |
|
 |
On terminating sponsorship of any pre-project or
project,
Alain Ngoya-Kessy, Congo, favored deciding by
either consensus or simple majority vote |
|
 |
On Entry into Force, Fredua Agyeman, Ghana,
called for informal consultations and Chair
Blaser appointed a contact group to report
back on Wednesday, 25 January |
|
 |
Mbella Mbella, Cameroon, called for
compromise by all parties, noting that the
negotiations were in the home stretch. He also noted
that that time is of the essence and was running
against the negotiators |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Petrus Gunarso, Indonesia, preferred a 20-80
ratio and deletion of language on capping |
|
 |
Hideo Fukushima, Japan, said that
any cap should give Council the ability to manage
the consideration of the budget |
|
|
|
|
 |
On Administrative Account,
Brazil, for Producers, preferred a 20-80 ratio
proposed by President Paranhos in the contact group
on Monday, 23 January.
Left
to right: Luiz Cesar Gasser,
Brazil and
Tasso Azevedo, Brazil. |
|
-tn.jpg) |
On Special Vote, Freezailah Che Yeom, Malaysia,
cautioned that terminating a project may be very
disruptive
|
|
|
|
|
up
to top |
|
|
|
|
|
Links
|
|
UNCTAD’s
website for the ITTA, 1994 renegotiation, 4th part.
Includes the provisional agenda and supporting documents
ITTO
Secretariat
UNFF
Website
FAO
UNFF
Secretariat
UNFCCC
Secretariat
CBD
Secretariat
ENB
coverage of ITTC-39
ENB
coverage of the UN Conference for the Negotiation of
a Successor Agreement to the ITTA, 1994 -
Part
1|
Part
2 |
Part
3
YMB
summary of the Country-Led Initiative “Scoping
for a Future Agreement on Forests”, 16-18 November
2005, Berlin, Germany (HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
ENB
summary from UNFF-5: (English:
HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
(Spanish:
HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
(French:
HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
YMB
summary from the Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement
and Governance Conference, 6-8 June, 2005 Moscow, Russia:
(HTML,
PDF,
TEXT)
YMB
coverage the Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement
and Governance Conference, 22-25 November 2005, St.
Petersburg, Russia
ENB
archives of forestry meetings
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please
e-mail the
Digital Editor if
you have any questions regarding the content of this
page.
| Back to Linkages home | Visit IISDnet | Send e-mail to ENB | © 2006, IISD. All rights reserved. |
|