Nations Put off Decision of Forest Treaty
6/26/97
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Headline: Nations Put off Decision of Forest Treaty
Source: Reuters
Date: 6/26/97
Byline: Vicki Allen
Copyright 1997: Reuters
UNITED NATIONS, June 26 (Reuter) - The United Nations
Earth Summit on Thursday tentatively agreed to put off for
two years a decision on whether to seek an international
treaty to manage dwindling forests, summit sources said.
In the meantime, participants in the summit will continue
talks under an intergovernmental panel on forests to see
what progress is being made to carry out the panel's
recommendations on saving the last remnants of wild
forested lands.
The summit also agreed to add trade on goods and services,
technology and financing to the forest panel's
discussions.
Canada and the European Union have pushed for immediate
talks on a treaty, while the United States has contended
that there are enough international policies on the books
and more negotiations would only delay measures to slow
the loss of forests.
Most major environmental groups backed the United States,
saying Canada and Europe wanted a treaty to enshrine the
``lowest common denominator'' rules that would weaken
existing policies.
Several conservation groups criticised the tentative deal
-- which was expected to take well into the night to
finalise
-- as a prescription for more talk and no action.
"It's a fudge. There is no provision to take action in the
meantime,'' Steve Howard, senior forest officer with the
World Wildlife Fund International, said.
``Two more years at the current rate -- that's 30 million
hectares to 40 million hectares logged. That's an area
approaching twice the size of Sweden,'' Howard said.
``It's a massive diversion from the real issue, which is
action to save forests,'' Tony Juniper, of Friends of the
Earth said. ``It will be a very carefully worded document
that further defers a decision on whether there should be
a convention.''
But Jacob Sherr of the Natural Resources Defence Council
said it appeared to be a fairly sound plan.
``As hard as the Europeans and Canadians pushed for an
immediate negotiation, I don't see it as a defeat at
all,'' Sherr said.
``If this forum works properly, it will be a way of
examining the extent countries are implementing the 135
recommendations that came out of the international panel
on forestry. And in the course of that process they will
continue to discuss the needs and parameters for a
possible negotiation,'' he said.