EC aid
FERN
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Introduction
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EC aid= European Community
(EC) development aid.
Managed by the European
Commission
9.7 billion Euros in 2001
Low transparency and openess
Development of environmental and
social policies- behind other
donors
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Why are we interested in EC aid?
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1. Poor people depend on forests’ natural resources for
survival. IP’s have specific links with forests and specific
rights. Aid funds that threathen forests will undermine
these people’s livelihood
2. Aid funds can threathen forests by funding directly bad
forests projects, by ignoring forests and forests peoples in
other aid funding: road, mining support, structural
adjustment support, trade promotion, etc…
3. Civil society participation: lacking
4. Grant (tax payer) money is furthering the economic and
political agenda of the EU
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EC development policy
Main objective: poverty alleviation
Six focal areas:
 Trade and development
 Regional integration and co-operation
 Macro economic policies
 Transport
 Food security and rural development
 Institutional capacity building
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Environment, Human rights and Gender to be mainstreamed
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NGO/FERN protests
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EC Development Policy is part of the problem , not part of the solution.
Grant money is being used to further the econominc andpolitical agenda of
the EU
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No forest strategy exist to support integration of forests and forests
peoples’ interests in programming documents
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EC aid programming
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Country and Regional Strategy Papers
Identify priority areas of intervention
Country ownership (3 to 5 years)
Civil society participation
Under the umbrella of PRSPs
Developed at country level and approved
in Brussels
Mid-term review
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Have environment/forests issues been
taken into consideration into CSPs/RSPs?
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Investigate 18 CSPs and RSPs in highly
forested countries
Main findings
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Selection of focal areas
Quality of CSPs
Environment: poorly analysed and not
integrated
Transport and importance of roads
Inadequate consultation with civil society
Neglect of Ips issues
Almost no funding for forests and the
environment
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What we want
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An implementation of EC development policy that
focuses truly on poverty alleviation
A programming of aid that understand that
environmental integirty and sustainable
management of natural resources are pre-conditions
for any development
Policies and programming developed and
implemented only with full participation of local
communities and IPs and civil society at large
Policies and programming that fully respects IP’s
rights
Policies and programming that ensures
transparency and good governance
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EC Forest Platform
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There is no platform of
environmental NGOs looking at
development policies and
programmes and their impact on
forests and forests peoples
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What is happening in
other EU countries?
–?
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