14 May 1993

Doc. 6840

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

to protect virgin forests

and enhance sustainable development

presented by Mrs ROBERT and others

1.       Tropical forests contain 50 % of the species living on our planet and are of paramount importance for the world climate.

2.       They shelter indigenous people to whose special protection the year 1993 has been dedicated.

3.       Tropical virgin forests are the regions in which the most biodiversity is found and at the same time they are the most threatened ones of the globe since their exploitation goes on at a frightening speed and the whole forest might be burnt within the next 15 years. Malaysia is being exploited at an even faster rate and its forests may be destroyed within five years.

4.       The Assembly is extremely concerned about this exploitation and calls for concerted activities to assure sustainable development in forestry all over the world and demands:

-       international co-operation to reduce the exploitation;

-       finance for incentives and special programmes for timber producing countries to establish sustainable forestry;

-       dialogue with timber-exporting countries - especially Malaysia, the biggest exporter - to reach mutual agreements on sustainable forestry and development of programmes to find substitutes for the developing countries' income from the timber trade;

-       the convening of a conference within the framework of the Council of Europe's activities, notably those aiming at the implementation of the Rio Conference's conclusions, to draw up an international convention on sustainable forestry and the introduction of informative labelling of wood products.

Signed:       Robert, Bolinaga, Ruffy, Valleix, Terborg, Gjørv, Newall, Graenitz, Sarens, Ferrarini, Zierer, Granstedt, Dromberg, Hunt, Bjarnason, Tiuri, Rubner, Hardy, Vassiliadis, Vella, Lotz, Büchel, Slomka