Сlosing Plenary Session
ENA-FLEG Ministerial Conference
Friday, November 25, 2005, 10:15-12:15
1. Acknowledge Conference Results and Key Contributors
This has been a very well prepared and highly productive conference. We know that over 200 participants from 45 countries – including delegations of both ‘producer’ and ‘consumer’ governments, observers from key stakeholder groups such as the civil society and private sector, regional and international organizations – have all worked very hard together in the previous months, and especially this week, to develop and adopt by consensus the St. Petersburg Ministerial Declaration and Indicative Action Plan. We applaud the Government of the Russian Federation, especially our partners at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Federal Forestry Agency, for their strong leadership in convening this widely representative regional process, and for their hard efforts in its organization. We thank the Governments of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States for their significant and timely financial support to the conference organization, and the City of St. Petersburg – for graciously hosting this major event. We value strong political support to the forest governance agenda from the member-countries of the European Union, the United States, Canada, China and Japan, and especially welcome Russia’s readiness to further promote its importance at high political levels during their forthcoming G-8 presidency in 2006.
2. Highlight Important Features of the Conference The main document approved today provides a concise statement of high-level political commitment by the participating countries to significant improvements in forest law enforcement and governance in the Europe and North Asia region. It gives clear guidance to governments and other stakeholders about the concrete areas at national, regional and international levels where they can effectively work together in the next 3-5 years to achieve tangible results on the ground in reducing forest sector corruption and improving accountability and transparency for the benefit of the local populations. The Conference has made a strong focus on implementation. National action plans, such as the ones already under advanced preparation in Russia, Armenia and other countries, should become key instruments in this process. Discussions this week have demonstrated solid potential for testing and practical application of concrete technical solutions within the next 12-18 months, such as: inter-agency and public information systems for increased transparency of forest operations and timber flows, or rural energy substitute programs for reducing rural communities’ dependence on fuelwood, etc. Very importantly – the Conference discussions are generating useful guidance on how the implementation results should be measured. Specifically, the outcomes of this work should lead to improved livelihoods of forest-dependent communities, more reliable investment climate in the forest sector industries, broader civil society engagement in forest management. Last but not least, we have high confidence in the viability of the Conference recommendations – based on the exceptional level of constructive engagement from the private sector and civil society. ENA-FLEG is proving to be a great case of how these two groups of stakeholders can work as an effective partnership and develop their consolidated position. This certainly raises the value and efficiency of stakeholder inputs as key partners to governments in improving forest governance. We strongly hope that this trend would continue.
3. Confirm World Bank’s Commitment and Announce Next Steps We continue to be fully committed to support the activities discussed here in St Petersburg that will combat illegal logging. We will listen carefully to the governments in the region, to civil society, the NGO’s, representatives of indigenous groups and to the private sector. And we are committed to respond flexibly to any requests for assistance. We are open to find news ways of partnerships to address these complex issues. Improving forest governance is an integral element of the World Bank’s new global Forest Policy and Strategy approved in 2002. We provide this assistance in a number of ways. First, through the country partnership programs we have established throughout the world, we are already supporting specific public investments in improved forest management and regulations, forest information infrastructure and monitoring systems, human resource development and training. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, we finance 11 such projects in 9 countries with total commitments of almost US$200 million. Secondly, we are providing on-demand, analytical and advisory services to our client governments by disseminating international best practices and building capacity in forest policy and regulatory development, economic and fiscal incentives, performance-based budgeting, public-private partnerships, etc. Thirdly, as has been the case with this Conference and in the other regions, the World Bank serves as a manager of trust funds earmarked by various donors for assistance with improved forest governance.
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