Annex A
G8 ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT MINISTERIAL,
18 March 2005
1. The Environment and Development Ministers
of the G8 countries, with the European Commissioners responsible
for the environment and development, the EU Presidency and senior
officials from the United Nations, World Bank and IUCN met from
17 to 18 March 2005 in Derbyshire. We discussed two themes: actions
to tackle illegal logging and the impact of climate change on
African development. We had the benefit of discussions with civil
society representatives.
TACKLING ILLEGAL
LOGGING
2. We agreed the Chair would forward the
following statement on illegal logging to the Chair of the Gleneagles
Summit of Heads of States and Government for their attention.
3. We agree that working to tackle illegal
logging is an important step towards the sustainable management
of forests and sustainable development. We recognise the impacts
that illegal logging, associated trade and corruption have on
environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and deforestation
and hence climate systems. Illegal logging also damages livelihoods
in the poorest countries, causes loss of revenues to Governments,
distorts markets and trade, and sustains conflicts.
4. We welcome the work of the Commission
for Africa in highlighting the importance of forests for development
in Africa.
5. We also welcome the current actions to
tackle illegal logging and associated trade, through country-driven
initiatives and regional processes such as the FLEG Regional Ministerial
processes, the Asia Forest Partnership, the Congo Basin Forest
Partnership and the EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade
Action Plan. We also welcome the work of the United Nations Forum
on Forests, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Food and
Agriculture Organisation, and the International Tropical Timber
Organisation.
6. We agree that tackling illegal logging
requires action by both timber producing and consuming countries.
We commit ourselves to a range of different actions as set out
below, with each country acting where it can contribute most effectively.
We will also engage with other major timber consuming countries.
7. We commit ourselves to assisting timber
producing countries by increasing our support to existing forest
law enforcement and governance processes and extending this support
to other regions. This will help build wider awareness, understanding
and commitment to tackle illegal logging.
8. We agree to increase our support to producer
countries in their efforts to tackle illegal logging and associated
trade by: combating corruption through enhanced transparency and
access to information, particularly on the allocation of forest
harvesting rights and revenues; strengthening capacity to enforce
forest, wildlife and other relevant laws; engaging civil society
and local communities in these actions; re-establishing law enforcement
and administrative systems in post-conflict situations; and helping
countries meet CITES obligations.
9. We will share our technical knowledge,
help develop tools and build the capacity to apply them to detect
and prevent illegal logging and apprehend and prosecute offenders.
This will include remote sensing, Geographical Information Systems
and other systems to monitor forest activities and conditions.
10. We will act in our own countries. We
will take steps to halt the import and marketing of illegally
logged timber, for example by giving appropriate powers to our
border control authorities through voluntary bilateral trade agreements
or other arrangements, consistent with WTO rules.
11. We support taking actions to control
illegal logging and associated trade, including wildlife trafficking,
through bilateral and regional arrangements related to trade,
consistent with WTO rules.
12. We will encourage, adopt or extend public
timber procurement policies that favour legal timber, where they
can influence the private sector to use legally sourced timber.
We will share our experience of this with others.
13. We will work with and encourage the
private sector in producer and consumer countries, including timber
processors, exporters, importers and civil society organisations,
to develop and promote legally sourced timber products. We will
also work with the private sector to help them adopt and implement
voluntary codes of conduct, good business practices and improved
market transparency.
14. We will work with civil society to inform
consumers of the problems caused by illegal logging.
15. We will also request our experts to
meet in 2006, to review progress towards the commitments we have
made, share lessons on actions to tackle illegal logging, and
make their findings available.
CLIMATE CHANGE
IN AFRICA
16. We welcome the fact that climate change
including the specific issues we discussed here will be further
considered by G8 Heads of State and Government at the Gleneagles
summit. The Chair summarized the discussions as follows and will
forward this to the summit chair.
17. We noted that African countries are
particularly vulnerable to climate variability and climate change
and, like many developing countries, are already experiencing
more frequent dangerous climate effects. Africa's climate is highly
variable, complex and in some regions harsh. We recognised that
the adverse effects of climate change present significant risks
to the sustainable growth and development of many developing countries.
We agree that urgent action to help the vulnerable adapt to climate
change is necessary to ensure that its impacts do not undermine
the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
18. We agree that further international
action is required to address climate change and reaffirm our
commitments to show leadership in international efforts to tackle
climate change and assist vulnerable countries in coping with
the impacts of climate change.
19. We considered the Climate Proofing Africa
report and welcome its recommendations for national, regional
and global action to improve Africa's capacity to monitor and
make effective use of climate information.
20. We discussed the urgent need to assist
Africa to reduce vulnerability by building resilience to climate
variability and by developing the capacity to adapt to climate
change. This will require a rigorous and rational approach, building
on existing efforts, to integrate climate factors into development
planning and resilience strategies.
21. We recognise the need to strengthen
actions to build resilience to climate variability and climate
change in sectors such as agriculture and water management, and
the threat posed to food security, health, land degradation and
biodiversity.
22. We recognise the need for increasing
access to reliable and affordable energy services for the poor
in Africa, particularly from renewable and energy efficient sources.
23. We acknowledge the climate change recommendations
of the Commission for Africa report and recognise the need for
international support to strengthen Africa's ability to cope with
climate variability and climate change. We welcome the Commission's
conclusions that partnerships for development must be African
led, strengthen existing capacity and be underpinned by good governance.
24. We are committed to supporting an effective
international response:
(i) to help Africa understand and manage
climate risk by building scientific and technical capacity in
Africa including through existing initiatives such as the Global
Climate Observing System and Global Earth Observing System of
Systems, linking its scientists into the international community
and strengthening Africa's regional climate centres;
(ii) for multilateral development agencies
to develop and implement "best practice" guidelines
for screening Africa's climate risks within development portfolios,
drawing on relevant experience from all regions.
(iii) to integrate measures to address the
impacts of climate change for Africa in international development
assistance and facilitate their integration in regional and national
development plans.
(iv) To advance programmes to increase the
resilience of agricultural productivity, such as NEPAD's Comprehensive
African Agricultural Development Programme.
25. We reaffirm our commitment to the UNFCCC
Buenos Aires Programme of Work on adaptation.
26. We look forward to a successful replenishment
of the Global Environment Facility.
27. We noted the Report of the UN High Level
Panel on Threats, Challenges and Opportunities, which recognises
that climate change is a threat to global security. We look forward
to further discussions at the Millennium Review Summit in September
2005 on how development strategies can be strengthened to build
national resilience to climate impacts.
18 March 2005
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