US Failing to Comply with International Panel on Forests Agreement
11/19/98
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Title: US Failing to Comply with International Panel on Forests Agreement
Source: American Lands
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 11/19/98
The United States is among a number of nations that agreed to a
series of Proposals for Action as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Forests (IPF). This May, the US will be reporting to the other IPF
nations in our progress in implementing the agreement. Thus far, the US
is failing to take adequate steps to reform forestry at a federal, state
or private level to meet the terms of the agreement.
Many of the proposals for action could have significant impact if enacted.
For example action 17(a) reads:
Encourage countries, in accordance with their national sovereignty,
specific country conditions and national legislation, to develop,
implement, monitor and evaluate national forest programs, which
include a wide range of approaches for sustainable forest
management, taking into consideration the following: consistency
with national, subnational or local policies and strategies, and - as
appropriate - international agreements; partnership and participatory
mechanisms to involve interested parties; recognition and respect
for customary and traditional rights of, inter alia, indigenous
people and local communities; secure land tenure arrangements;
holistic, inter-sectoral and iterative approaches; ecosystem
approaches that integrate the conservation of biological diversity
and the sustainable use of biological resources; and adequate
provision and valuation of forest goods and services.
A quick look shows the US is failing to meet many of these requirements.
The US relies on the forest planning process to address many of these
issues at the federal level. Many recent Forest Plans are under citizen
appeal due to inadequacies while many others have been declared illegal by
the courts.
The Forest Service continues to ignore the concerns and rights of
indigenous peoples by logging sacred sites. The goal of conserving
biodiversity is also not being met as new species continue to be listed
under the Endangered Species Act. On private lands, Habitat Conservation
Plans are latest management strategy, but they fail to stand up to
scientific scrutiny. And finally, forests remain undervalued, many
services they provide uncounted, and government subsidies are continuing
for destructive extractive industries.
A meeting held yesterday in Washington, DC to allow stakeholder
consultation of US implementation of the IPF proposals indicated that no
action has been taken to date to implement the agreement. The State
Department and the Forest Service who are the lead federal agencies in
this process were represented along with a range of trade, industry and
environmental interests.
Both agencies offered a glowing assessment of the US progress in
implementing the agreement without offering any specifics. When
conservationists suggested there were many areas in need of improvement,
neither agency seemed interested in hearing our comments or discussing
how the US was going to implement the agreement. But, they did promise
a future meeting to discuss our concerns.
The US should be a leader in protecting our global forest heritage and we
should live up to our commitments. If you are interested in obtaining
more information or a copy of the IPF Proposals for Action, please contact
me at wafcdc@americanlands.org or 202/547-9105.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send a message to
wafcdc@americanlands.org along with your complete contact information
(name, org, address & phone #)
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
wafcdc@americanlands.org