§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been received at the recent preparatory committee from Governments of tropical countries concerning the expansion of the International Tropical Timber Agreement to encompass timber from all forest types; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydA few tropical timber countries represented at the preparatory committee proposed that the agreement should be extended to include non-tropical timber. No formal proposal for such an extension was put forward by tropical timber countries as a whole.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what commitments have been made by the United Kingdom in relation to the International Tropical Timber Organisation's targets and guidelines.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydAs a member of the International Tropical Timber Organisation we are committed to playing our part in achieving the target of the year 2000 for all internationally traded tropical timber from sustainably managed forests and assisting in the implementation of the International Tropical Timber Organisation's guidelines on sustainable management and biodiversity.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much funding has been contributed by the United Kingdom Government to the administrative and special accounts of the International Tropical Timber Organisation since 1987; and what is the Government's overall budget for matters related to the International Tropical Timber Organisation.
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§ Mr. Lennox-BoydOur contributions to the International Tropical Timber Organisations administrative account which are annually assessed in United States dollars are:
$ 1987 58,466 1988 59,895 1989 66,411 1990 74,601 1991 98,602 1992 86,358 The sterling equivalent of the 1992 payment was £49,500. In addition we also make payments on a case by case basis to projects under ITTO's special account. In the United Kingdom financial year ending 31 March 1992 we contributed £213,000.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the steps taken by the Government(a) to investigate the feasibility of forest monitoring, timber tracing and product labelling of timber from well managed forests and (b) to monitor the level of imports into the United Kingdom of tropical timber from sustainably managed and environmentally benign and socially beneficial sources.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydWe provided finance to ITTO to carry out an initial study of the feasibility of labeling based originally on a proposal from Friends of the Earth. We are supporting work on incentives which might be introduced at local level in Ghana to ensure sustainable forest management. We are also offering the Soil Association help to finance the preparation of draft standards for tropical forest management as part of its work on timber certification in association with the Forest Stewardship Council.
More work needs to be done on the design and establishment of labelling, certification and monitoring systems before it would be practicable to introduce import monitoring of tropical timber as proposed.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been received by the Government from representatives of the timber industry concerning the renegotiation of the international tropical timber agreement; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydRepresentations have been received from the National Hardwood Association of the Tropical Timber Federation.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evidence he has of a relationship between tropical deforestation rates and population growth.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe relationship is complex. To improve our knowledge and understanding of the linkages we have commissioned a programme of research through the University of Bradford.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the recent preparatory committee to renegotiate the international tropical timber agreement.
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§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe recent Preparatory Committee provided for an initial exchange of views on the possible elements of a renegotiated agreement which will be pursued at a further meeting in Quito, Ecuador next January.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations have been received by the Government from non-governmental environmental organisations concerning the inclusion of timber from all forest types under the international tropical timber agreement.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydRepresentations have been received from the World Wide Fund for Nature and Friends of the Earth.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the agreement reached at UNCED regarding the trade in forest products.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIn the forest principles agreed at UNCED, it was decided that trade in forest products should be based on non-discriminatory and multilaterally agreed rules and procedures consistent with international trade law and practices.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps have been taken by the Government to review the progress made in implementing the international tropical timber agreement 1983; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIn preparation for the renegotiation of the ITTA, the ODA, in co-operation with other interested Departments and EC member states and in consultation with interested non-governmental organisations and the relevant trade federation, have been assessing progress on the implementation of the agreement to date.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken to ensure that commitments made at the UNCED concerning the conservation of the world's forests are promoted through the United Kingdom Government's contribution to the renegotiation of the international tropical timber agreement.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIn the renegotiation of the ITTA, we are pressing for the inclusion of the relevant elements of forests principles agreed at UNCED to be incorporated into the agreement.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to expand the mandate of the work of the International Tropical Timber Organisation to deal with timber trade from all forests.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydWe have no such plans but we are prepared to consider proposals put forward formally by the ITTO tropical timber producing countries.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the prices received by developing countries for their exports of mahogany, iroko, meranti, ramin, sapele and kertuing timbers and timber products since 1985.
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§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe prices received by developing countries fluctuate with market conditions and variations in quality and the specification of the timber product. They
Prices FoB per year 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 African Mahogany (£) 209 229 247 212 256 275 260 280 Iroko (£) 170 161 162 155 233 290 233 252 Sapele (£) 250 270 274 256 275 327 302 306 Brazilian Mahogany ($US) 450 610 625 560 795 810 720 655 Meranti (Malaysian $) 706 735 862 870 1,350 1,195 1,395 1,391 Kertuing (Malaysian $) 285 328 466 640 580 600 760 686 Ramin (Malaysian $) 904 1,112 1,412 1,034 1,327 1,600 1,632 1,303