Push to green Union aid policies

Date: 04/11/1999

By Gareth Harding

EU DEVELOPMENT ministers will next week make their boldest-ever bid to green the Union's aid policy, outlining a raft of measures to combat deforestation and climate change in the third-world.

They are also set to agree a tough statement on integrating environmental concerns into development policy.

A European Commission paper published last week was long on rhetoric but short on detail, and ministers are likely to call for concrete measures to ensure the Union's €5-billion aid budget is spent on cleaning up the environment, not destroying it.

A separate Commission report warns that carbon dioxide emissions from developing countries will grow by 115% over the next two decades unless action is taken to curb fossil fuel use. But third-world countries insist they will not sign up to CO2 reduction targets which would stunt their growth. The report urges EU countries to give priority to projects which support development objectives and climate change concerns, but aid beneficiaries are likely to resist linking the two.

Development Commissioner Poul Nielson will also present a draft paper on forests and development policy at next week's meeting which is expected to move away from traditional ideas about forest conservation towards recognising that forests are important resources which must be managed sustainably.

The paper suggests that the Union should consider paying more for certified forest products and writing off developing countries' debts in return for efforts to protect forests.

EU development ministers are to make their boldest-ever bid to green the Union's aid policy, outlining a raft of measures to combat deforestation and climate change in the third-world.