Reinforce Protection of Primary Forests Through Sustainable Forestry

Honorable Mr. President, my dear colleagues.

The conservation of primary forests on this Earth is of immense importance. We, the Union (CDU conservative party group), want more to be done against destruction but more for conservation. To save the primary forests is an issue very close to the Union's heart. Admittedly, the tropical forests are very far away from us. Still, they impact our lives and the lives of our children immensely in terms of diversity of species and climatic changes.

The Union has presented a motion, dated 23 March 2004, print matter registration 15/2747 titled `Reinforce The Protection Of Primary Forests By Sustainable Forestry' as a basis of further measures to the German Bundestag. The FDP (liberal) faction seconded this motion without reservation. Moreover, it was highly praised by speakers of the SPD (Social Democrats) and Grune (Green) parties. Therefore, I find it most regrettable that you were unable to transcend your preconceived ideas and party limits and, despite your words of acknowledgement, have rejected our motion at the committee meeting, and three months later presented a proposal of your own.

As to your proposal - Besides praises for the federal government's proceeding from your point of view, you support in principle the positions outlined by us. Therefore, I would ask you to set aside party limitations and preconceived party ideas, and to free yourself for the matter at hand to support our motion.

Year after year, we deplore the loss of around 15 million hectares of primary forests,a trend which is rising. Only about half of the area is replanted, mainly with oil palm plantations. The situation cannot be ignored any longer. Something must be done to stop this daily loss of 40,000 hectares of primary

forests. We ask this government to act. The Union wants to make its contribution.

We demand to stop the import of illegally logged or traded timber from primary and other forests. The Union feels that this demand must be fulfilled urgently. We had hoped, even I personally had hoped, that you would support us in this central issue and act fast to come up with some legislative proposals. Unfortunately, nothing has happened so far. We see an urgent need to act on this matter.

We want the existing virgin forests to be cartographically surveyed. These data must be continually updated. Proof of legality of timber and timber products from tropical forests must be created. There is also a need for deciding on sanctions if the requested legal regulations are not complied with. Illegality, criminality and greed for profit by individuals must not negatively affect the nature and economy of the global society.

The certification proof (of sustainability and legality) of imported timber must be totally obligatory. In our opinion, certain certification systems must not be allowed to hold a monopoly. For instance, here in Germany FSC and PEFC coexist whereby PEFC is certainly better suited for privately owned forests. It is important not to think ideologically, but to acknowledge those certification systems which fulfill the requirements.

In this respect I see, for example, the MTCC system from Malaysia as an important condition to not importing illegally logged timber any longer. Our path should be to develop utilisation of timber. This includes timber from tropical forests, if it is legally logged. This is what we have to fight for!

The path of establishing voluntary partnerships as decided by the EU commission is the right direction. It has to result, however, in corresponding legal regulations. The aim must be that European and German consumers can buy garden furniture made of timber with a clear conscience.

Illegal logging impoverishes the local inhabitants. At least a billion people depend on these forests for their livelihood for survival. Let us not abandon them! Illegal logging also results in bio-diversity loss, steppe formations and desertification to the extent of significant climatic changes and a drastically deteriorating CO₂ balance. We must prevent all these.

If we set new limits to our economy in terms of emission trade, if we spend an additional 2.5 billion annually on power generation from renewable resources, then we have to acknowledge that the destruction of virgin forests has greater effects in terms of financial and economic losses.

In Indonesia, forest fires release enormous volumes of greenhouse gases. Within a few months, an area - around 10 million hectares - double the size of Switzerland or almost the total forested areas of Germany has been largely burned. The smoke clouds caused by the Indonesian forest fires have reached areas far beyond Indonesia in the past years. It covered an area of more than 2,000 by 4,000 kilometers. The smoke choked people for months. Afterwards, parts of the area dried up. Grasses and ferns have since grown but the forest cannot regenerate under these conditions.

Parts of this area are utilised for oil palm plantations or as rice fields where thousands of kilometers of water canals have been dug. As a result, ground water levels have sunk by one to two meters within a few months. Consequently, forests in surrounding areas have also died from lack of accessible water.

Our citizens must be informed, but the responsible politicians especially, must acknowledge that if necessary measures are not taken fast enough, we will be very much affected, or rather afflicted. We must act to prevent this from happening. Therefore, the Union wants to ensure that the remaining indigenous natural forests are conserved.

Take for example a country like Indonesia, where more than three quarters of woodlands are logged illegally. I believe we should be unanimous in that the buyer countries must not look the other way but make their contributions. Germany is an important buyer of Indonesian plywood and I repeat: More than 70% of this originates from illegal logging! Experts in the field claim that 50% of all imported tropical wood into the EU originate from illegal logging. We must not allow this.

We must also consider the appropriateness of our measures. It cannot be that we force every single forest owner in Germany to plant certain trees of certain sizes over a designated number of square meters, with enormous bureaucratic involvement, ever-increasing new levies, and legal regulations, new hurdles, for example, within the framework of "best professional practice", ever-increasing tax burdens and increasing bureaucracy, while at the same time allowing those in power to stand by and watch the complete destruction of thousands of hectares.

We, the Union ask the government to stop reducing the allocation for conservation of tropical forests. We ask this government especially to utilise the allocated resources effectively and sensibly. We criticise the fact that when Hermes guarantees (ref notes) were awarded, uncountable millions for investment costs were given for the purchase of machines for cellulose production which contributed significantly to illegal logging of tropical timber. Even worse, after these facts were revealed, more Hermes guarantees were provided.

This is not what the Union envisages as a responsible policy for bio-diversity and climate protection. And while here our industry, our SMIs are constantly faced with new regulations aimed at reducing the level of CO₂ we have to acknowledge the fact that simultaneously enormous amounts of the greenhouse gases have been released during peat forest fires

in Indonesia. Besides the destruction of thin barked tropical trees and the destruction of bio-diversity, much more CO₂ was released than we can make up for with billions in investment in emission trade and regenerative energy.

In Indonesia alone, the annual deforestation area amounts to 3.8 million hectares. All of Northrhine-Westphalia has 800,000 hectares of forest. The oil palm plantation area is to be enlarged from the current 2.4 million hectares to 5.5 million hectares. This will reduce the forest area. Forests are destroyed especially by planned and intentional burning. These fires often rage out of control, so that hundreds of thousands of hectares are destroyed.

We, the Union want to conserve the primary forests. We want to prevent illegal logging and export of this timber to our country. We want to ensure the conservation of protected and untouched core zones in the natural tropical forests. It is important for the local people in terms of their food and livelihood to harvest the remaining tropical forest in a sustainable manner as a timber production forest. Sustainability is required both in terms of amount of timber harvested as well as bio-diversity, and in those areas where forests have been converted or such conversion is planned, we must ensure that timber replanting takes place.

We cannot allow illegally obtained timber, including those from national park areas, to be sold for 30 Euro locally but fetch 3,000 Euro in the export market and 100,000 Euro after processing. Looking at it from the economic point of view, the local people are driven into poverty while the legal operators are facing an undermining of their prices and the justified price of a valuable natural resource. Moreover, this means financial restitution expenses of unbearable dimensions for the environment, climate and humanity. This cannot be our policy.

Let us conserve the most precious natural resources of this Earth. If we do this, we contribute considerably to conserving the basis of living for mankind. Let us fulfill our responsibilities. Conservation of all remaining natural forests by sustainable management means poverty eradication, climate protection, bio-diversity and sustainable economic development. We ask the Federal Government to fight illegal logging quickly and effectively!

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