INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP ON FORESTS (IWGF) REPORT
TRADE AND THE MANAGEMENT, CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF ALL TYPES OF FORESTS
Synopsis of Discussion
It was generally recognized that trade can improve a country's ability to promote management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests if it occurs in conjunction with policies that address the social, economic, cultural, and environmental roles of forests but that it could exacerbate environmental problems if it occurred in the absence of such policies. Some participants stressed that complementary and mutually supportive international trade liberalization and environment policies are helpful in promoting management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, and that it is important that environmental issues not be used as a pretext for protectionism.
While a number of participants agreed with studies that concluded trade is not the primary cause of deforestation, certain governments are facing public and NGO pressure to take trade actions as a means of forcing the pace of change in forest policies in producer countries. The view was also expressed that there may be occasions when the judicious application of trade restrictions by individual nations or groups of nations can be a constructive tool in slowing or preventing irreversible environmental damage. However, many participants stressed that any restriction on trade works against the sustainable development of forests.
For a number of forest countries, forests are an important generator of resources for achieving national development goals. In this context, trade is fundamental to the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. However, trade is only one of several important reasons motivating the broadly-held desire to progress towards sustainable forest management. Other important concerns include social and economic issues, e.g. poverty, the livelihood of local forest communities, including indigenous people, the economic development of forest regions, conservation of forest ecosystems, and the economic and social benefits from the resources, goods and services of these regions.
While many participants expressed the opinion that sustainable forest management certification programs, in particular voluntary programs, could be a practical alternative to trade measures and a way of responding to consumer demands, a number of participants expressed concern about the growing number of such programs and the potential for public confusion. There was general support for transparent and open-ended processes, involving governments, to develop such programs and a preference either, for a multilaterally agreed scheme or a multilateral process to harmonize the common elements of emerging programs. Some participants stressed the need for producer countries to have time to implement management, conservation and sustainable development of their forests and questioned the imposition of certification requirements without taking into account the agreed ITTO time- frame, the year 2000.
Many participants stressed the need for certification programs to be transparent, independent, responsible and non-discriminatory and the need to develop, where appropriate, common standards based on internationally agreed criteria that are equitable for all types of forests, but flexible enough to accommodate local forest conditions. Some participants also stressed the need for certification programs that were capable of being audited. While it was noted that criteria and indicators being developed at the national level could contribute to voluntary certification programs, some participants stressed that the scale of national level indicators would need to be extended down to the management unit level in order for them to be applicable to certification programs.
While it was generally agreed that the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests should reflect a full internalization of costs into market mechanisms, it was recognized that there was lack of practical experience with using economic instruments to achieve this goal and a need for practical analytical work to be undertaken by international bodies in this area. The same approach should apply to all production sectors.
Some participants expressed support for trade liberalization, i.e., reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers to export trade, as the best means of providing the resources to implement sustainable forest management. Some participants also expressed concern that trade restrictions on forest products trade have increased since UNCED.
In discussing trade and environment issues, some participants referred to the need to focus national and international efforts on implementing Agenda 21, Chapter 11 and the Forest Principles and stressed that if countries concentrated on implementing UNCED outcomes this would represent the best way of achieving the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. Other participants expressed a willingness to move beyond UNCED outcomes.
There was a general recognition of the need to invest in the implementation of the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. Some participants stressed the need to reinvest some of the proceeds from forest product sales, while others stressed that the source of investment funds was a domestic policy decision. Some participants also stressed the importance of providing technological and financial assistance to developing countries to develop their capacity to formulate and implement policies and programs that further the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.
It was noted by some participants that many governments are developing codes of conduct for enterprises involved in the management, harvest and trade of forest products as a means of promoting the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests. It was also pointed out that international, voluntary, industry-based codes of conduct were the types of codes most likely to succeed.
Several participants mentioned the leading role that the GATT/WTO plays in determining the compatibility of trade measures based on forestry management practices and/or forest products production processes with GATT/WTO rules. Other participants recognized the role of GATT/WTO, UNCTAD, UNEP, CSD, ITTO and OECD in examining trade issues relevant to the sustainable management of forests in accordance with their respective mandates and competencies. A number of participants affirmed the primary role played by the GATT/WTO Committee on Trade and Environment in working to reconcile trade rules with trade restrictions having environmental objectives. In this regard, some participants expressed their concern that trade restrictions could jeopardize the priority objectives of the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.
Some participants noted the growing problem of illegal trade in forest products, plant and animal species and genetic resources found in forests, and raised the need for international cooperation to combat this trade. Some participants stressed that national governments should coordinate the actions aimed at combatting this illegal trade.