EU practises Rio’s tenets in internal and foreign policy

Date: 30/05/1996

By Elizabeth Wise

BACK home from the world environment summit in Rio de Janeiro, Union governments agreed in December 1992 to integrate the summit's ecological and development goals into EU policy.

From climate change to forestry, biodiversity to commercial development, the Rio principles were to find their place in European law.

The European Commission environmental experts, who regard the Union as a heavyweight on the world scene, want EU policy to promote environmental well-being and the Rio principles both within its member states and in its dealings with foreign nations.

“The EU has a major role to play here by reason of its own internal experience in developing a legally-binding body of instruments,” says the Commission report on the EU's Fifth Environmental Action Programme, adding that the Union should promote environmental policies in its trading relationships and development aid.

The 1987 Ozone Protocol and its 1992 amendments have been implemented. An EU directive on air pollution establishes a harmonised procedure to monitor ozone concentration in the air, requiring member states to set up measuring stations and give warnings at certain thresholds.

The fight against pollution starts at home, but is also part of the Union's foreign dealings - with air and water pollution also finding their way into the Union's new Euro-Mediterranean initiative.

At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, industrialised nations agreed to help developing countries improve their environmental practices without making their exports suffer.

In its development spending, the Union has earmarked sums each year to fulfill priority areas on the Rio agenda. Of the 3.9 billion ecu the EU disbursed to developing countries in 1994, 815 million ecu was spent on energy, biodiversity, forests, water, the rural environment and desertification, the urban environment and human development.

The Union's research and development programmes are another channel for fulfilling Rio aims. Nearly half of its R&D funds are spent on developing countries, and natural resources themes are prominent. Ten per cent of the 12 billion ecu allocated by the Union from 1990-1995 to the 70 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations has been assigned to projects with environmental goals. The same proportion of funding for Asia and Latin America was earmarked for similar objectives.

Member states, which are working to comply with international agreements on the sustainable management of European forests, have also incorporated forestry conservation into their trade policies. Through its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), the EU gives trade concessions and incentives to developing countries that adopt conservation goals.

In addition to supporting initiatives in Brazil, Central Africa and the Philippines, the Union budget includes a 150-million-ecu line for aid to tropical forests from 1995-97, and in its Lomé Convention with the ACP nations, the Union has negotiated a protocol for forest resources.

Since 1993, the EU has also been working to integrate environmental concerns into the world trading system. Within its GPS system of preferential treatment for most-favoured nations, the Commission has promised that from 1998, its rules for industrial products will encourage sound environmental production. Commission officials talk of extending this application to non-industrial sectors.

In principle, the EU accomplishes the same goals through its political relations as well. Association accords with Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), for instance, provide the legal basis for 'green' cooperation. The pre-accession strategy for their eventual membership of the Union includes giving these countries information on EU environment policies, training, research and ideas for cooperation. The Union will encourage the CEECs to bring their environmental laws into line with EU rules, particularly concerning cross-border pollution and transport.

In the Phare and Tacis development programmes for the former Communist bloc, environmental spending is a key factor. Having Finland and Sweden in the Union has greatly improved the Commission's chances of achieving real environmental cooperation with Russia.

Pinpointing the huge land masses of China and India as nations whose policies will affect world environment conditions, the Commission also wants the Union to approach Beijing and Delhi to seek cooperation.

As EU member states consider reforms of the Union treaty at the Intergovernmental Conference, the Commission's environment experts are watching to see if those negotiations will strengthen the EU's common foreign policy and therefore its ability to act as an environmental activist throughout the world.