Policy coherence for development and the effects of the EU's exploitation of certain biological natural resources on development in West Africa

The European Parliament adopted by 559 votes to 11, with 17 abstentions, a resolution on policy coherence for development and the effects of the EU's exploitation of certain biological natural resources on development in West Africa.

The own-initiative report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Frithjof SCHMIDT (Greens/EFA) on behalf of the Committee on Development.

On the whole, the resolution believes that greater policy coherence for development (PCD) is necessary since this policy is central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

A series of efforts must be made across different sectors of the primary economy to improve the sustainable development of developing countries and to work towards reducing the negative effects of climate change, particularly in the forestry sector in order to develop sustainable forest management and fisheries management in African countries. The main sectors targeted by the Parliament to increase sustainable development in West Africa are the timber and fish sectors.

Timber: given that tropical deforestation is one of the key contributors to climate change (responsible for 20%) and to greenhouse gas emissions, the Parliament calls on the Commission to finance sustainable forest management initiatives within the framework of aid programming and Country Strategy Papers.

It also calls on the Commission to:

• present a communication determining the European Union’s approach for promoting forest protection and outlining the European Union’s commitment to provide funds to finance forest protected areas and to promote economic alternatives to forest destruction;
• speed up the implementation of the EU FLEGT action plan (EU action plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) and the directive aimed at combating illegal logging and related trade;
• propose a legislative proposal aimed at preventing the placing on the market of timber and timber products derived from illegal sources;
• speed up the adoption and implementation of a green public procurement policy which favours the purchase of eco-labelled wood products, especially those certified according to the standard of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Fish: recalling the high level of dependence of countries in West Africa on fisheries (as a source of employment, food security, government revenues and foreign exchange), the Parliament calls on the Commission to examine the clear link between migration levels of immigrants from West African countries and the decline of fish stocks. It also calls on the Commission and the West African countries to curb illegal fishing, which largely contributes to the rapid decline of fish stocks. It is also necessary to strengthen coherence between the Community's development policy and its fisheries policy by ensuring better surveillance of the waters off the West African coasts, by supporting scientific research into fish stocks and reinforcing hygiene standards.

Sustainability of fishing: a series of actions are also planned to ensure the sustainability of fishing activities in West Africa. Amongst the main actions proposed by the Parliament are the following:

• regular assessment of fishery resources through research campaigns carried out by EU researchers and researchers from the third country concerned;
• improved infrastructure on land, both port infrastructure and infrastructure for supplies and transport, in order to facilitate the entry of vessels from the EU and from other countries for repair, disembarkation, transhipment etc.;
• adaptation of hygiene and health rules;
• creation of monitoring and surveillance services, since these countries lack the necessary technical and human resources to carry out these tasks (setting up monitoring centres, training inspectors etc.);
• creation of a legal framework that will guarantee protection for current and potential EU investment stemming chiefly from the creation of joint ventures, which currently encounter too many obstacles to investment in the third country concerned, mainly owing to legal uncertainty which characterises almost all countries in the region;
• introduction of sustainable fisheries management plans that will regulate the activities of local sectors, restricting the widespread and biologically unsustainable practice of free access.

Moreover, the Parliament recognises that even though the financial contributions under the fisheries agreements have come to represent a substantial share of the total budgets of some third countries, cooperation for sustainable development cannot come from the common fisheries policy alone. Therefore, other Community policies also need to be brought into play, particularly development cooperation policy, in order to bring about political and socio-economic conditions that will enable those countries to redirect administrative and financial efforts so that they can benefit from the potential offered by their natural biological resources in a sustainable manner.

To conclude, the Parliament believes that the FLEGT process and the reformed Fisheries Partnership Agreements of the new generation represent important starting points for development-friendly policies in the third countries concerned.