Activities of Miapetra KUMPULA-NATRI related to 2019/2156(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the EU’s role in protecting and restoring the world’s forests
Amendments (15)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the progress made through Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), especially in Indonesia, and the increased dialogue between governments, industry and civil society in several countries resulting from the VPA process; is convinced that the EU should continue to engage with VPA countries to ensure it remains an attractive alternative to export markets with less stringent environmental standards; welcomes the Commission’s upcoming fitness check of the FLEGT Regulation and the EU Timber Regulationacknowledges the importance of the FLEGT Regulation and the EU Timber Regulation in preventing the entry of illegally harvested timber to the EU markets; calls on the EU to increase funding for FLEGT; welcomes the Commission’s upcoming fitness check of the FLEGT Regulation and the EU Timber Regulation as an opportunity to strengthen their enforcement and to widen their scope to cover e.g. printed products and wooden products; calls on the role of civil society, as a crucial source of information on deforestation, to be strengthened;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Considers it necessary to tackle all the main drivers of global deforestation, particularly agricultural expansion, which account for an estimated 80% of global deforestation and which has its roots in the demand for commodities such as palm oil, soya and beef;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Urges the Commission to submit a legislative proposal to introduce a due diligence obligation on operators placing forest and ecosystem-risk commodities and products on the internal market to ensure that such commodities and products do not cause deforestation, forest degradation, and the conversion or degradation of natural ecosystems or related human rights violations; a similar due diligence obligation should apply to the financial sector; the due diligence obligations should apply to the whole supply chain and cover OECD guidelines on social responsibility and human rights in trade; an access to justice and grievance mechanisms for the victims should be an important component of this legislation;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to step up capacity support to VPA countries in order to accelerate the implementation of the commitments made, including combatting corruption and greenwashing, enhancing good governance, and exploring the inclusion of more ambitious, binding and enforceable sustainable forestry provisions in trade and sustainable development chapters;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the EU to more closely cooperate with like-mindedother importing countries in the fight against global deforestation and climate change while safeguarding avenues for legal trade; and strengthening sustainable land management and agriculture, as well as land tenure and good governance in the third countries;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the importance of measures ensuring that demand is in line with the stated goals, as the EU is a majorn important importer of commodities associated with deforestation;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses the importance of partnership with third countries in order to strengthen sustainable forest management, the wood-based circular economy and the strong relationship between them in combating deforestation. Sustainable forest management can prevent the deforestation and has positive impact on the health and diversity of the forests. Preventing deforestation and promoting sustainable forestry should be supported through partnership approach at all levels;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls on the Commission to tackle deforestation multilaterally, with the aim of, inter alia, speeding up negotiations at the WTO on an Environmental Goods Agreement;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Calls on the EU to strengthen the enforcement of the environmental and climate rules of EU free trade agreements (FTAs); welcomes the proposal to this end by the Commission in the European Green Deal to make the Paris agreement an essential element of future FTAs and its proposal to do so in the case of the EU- UK agreement; calls on the Commission to develop tools to monitor the carbon footprint of imports; calls on the EU to include a “hierarchy clause” in the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of future FTAs, whereby the stipulations of the international agreements regarding climate, environment, human and labour right, to which the parties adhere to, would take precedence over other stipulations of the agreement; calls on the EU to include such provisions in future FTAs that would allow the EU to organise inspections and verifications in cases of suspected non-compliance with provisions laid down in the TSD chapter and, as a last resort, to make it possible to gradually withdraw trade preferences in cases of non-compliance with these provisions;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Calls on the Commission to take use of the new provisions of the anti- dumping regulation concerning environment and climate policies;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5 d. Calls on the EU to make a stronger link between trade and development policies, inter alia, by better implementing GSP+ rules in partner countries; calls on the Commission to work with GSP+ recipients on forestry management action plans to ensure effective implementation of their environmental commitments;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5 e. Recalls the importance of respecting the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; calls on the Commission to be actively involved in the negotiations on a binding UN instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Commission to propose recommendations on sustainable forest management in the third countries with the aim of converting former pasture grounds and farmlands into foresting sites;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls on the Commission to propose the definition of deforestation free zone so that to increase the transparency of supply chains, minimise the risk of deforestation for industry and consumers, all contributing to proving for deforestation free supply chains;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Calls on the Commission to fully integrate the European forest policy into the European Green Deal so that it becomes one of its essential elements by contributing to ambitious energy and climate targets;