[Title] G8 Environment and Development Ministerial: Chairman's Statement

1. The Environment and Development Ministers of the G8 countries, with the European Commissioners responsible for the environment and development, the EU Presidency and senior officials from the United Nations, World Bank and IUCN met from 17 to 18 March 2005 in Derbyshire. We discussed two themes: actions to tackle illegal logging and the impact of climate change on African development. We had the benefit of discussions with civil society representatives.

Tackling Illegal Logging (Statement by all G8 countries)

2. We agreed the Chair would forward the following statement on illegal logging to the Chair of the Gleneagles Summit of Heads of States and Government for their attention.

3. We agree that working to tackle illegal logging is an important step towards the sustainable management of forests and sustainable development. We recognise the impacts that illegal logging, associated trade and corruption have on environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and deforestation and hence climate systems. Illegal logging also damages livelihoods in the poorest countries, causes loss of revenues to Governments, distorts markets and trade, and sustains conflicts.

4. We welcome the work of the Commission for Africa in highlighting the importance of forests for development in Africa.

5. We also welcome the current actions to tackle illegal logging and associated trade, through country-driven initiatives and regional processes such as the FLEG Regional Ministerial processes, the Asia Forest Partnership, the Congo Basin Forest Partnership and the EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Action Plan. We also welcome the work of the United Nations Forum on Forests, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, and the International Tropical Timber Organisation.

6. We agree that tackling illegal logging requires action by both timber producing and consuming countries. We commit ourselves to a range of different actions as set out below, with each country acting where it can contribute most effectively. We will also engage with other major timber consuming countries.

7. We commit ourselves to assisting timber producing countries by increasing our support to existing forest law enforcement and governance processes and extending this support to other regions. This will help build wider awareness, understanding and commitment to tackle illegal logging.

8. We agree to increase our support to producer countries in their efforts to tackle illegal logging and associated trade by: combating corruption through enhanced transparency and access to information, particularly on the allocation of forest harvesting rights and revenues; strengthening capacity to enforce forest, wildlife and other relevant laws; engaging civil society and local communities in these actions; re-establishing law enforcement and administrative systems in post-conflict situations; and helping countries meet CITES obligations.

9. We will share our technical knowledge, help develop tools and build the capacity to apply them to detect and prevent illegal logging and apprehend and prosecute offenders. This will include remote sensing, Geographical Information Systems and other systems to monitor forest activities and conditions.

10. We will act in our own countries. We will take steps to halt the import and marketing of illegally logged timber, for example by giving appropriate powers to our border control authorities through voluntary bilateral trade agreements or other arrangements, consistent with WTO rules.

11. We support taking actions to control illegal logging and associated trade, including wildlife trafficking, through bilateral and regional arrangements related to trade, consistent with WTO rules.

12. We will encourage, adopt or extend public timber procurement policies that favour legal timber, where they can influence the private sector to use legally sourced timber. We will share our experience of this with others.

13. We will work with and encourage the private sector in producer and consumer countries, including timber processors, exporters, importers and civil society organisations, to develop and promote legally sourced timber products. We will also work with the private sector to help them adopt and implement voluntary codes of conduct, good business practices and improved market transparency.

14. We will work with civil society to inform consumers of the problems caused by illegal logging.

15. We will also request our experts to meet in 2006, to review progress towards the commitments we have made, share lessons on actions to tackle illegal logging, and make their findings available.

Climate change in Africa (Chair's summary)

16. We welcome the fact that climate change including the specific issues we discussed here will be further considered by G8 Heads of State and Government at the Gleneagles summit. The Chair summarized the discussions as follows and will forward this to the summit chair.

17. We noted that African countries are particularly vulnerable to climate variability and climate change and, like many developing countries, are already experiencing more frequent dangerous climate effects. Africa's climate is highly variable, complex and in some regions harsh. We recognised that the adverse effects of climate change present significant risks to the sustainable growth and development of many developing countries. We agree that urgent action to help the vulnerable adapt to climate change is necessary to ensure that its impacts do not undermine the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

18. We agree that further international action is required to address climate change and reaffirm our commitments to show leadership in international efforts to tackle climate change and assist vulnerable countries in coping with the impacts of climate change.

19. We considered the Climate Proofing Africa report and welcome its recommendations for national, regional and global action to improve Africa's capacity to monitor and make effective use of climate information.

20. We discussed the urgent need to assist Africa to reduce vulnerability by building resilience to climate variability and by developing the capacity to adapt to climate change. This will require a rigorous and rational approach, building on existing efforts, to integrate climate factors into development planning and resilience strategies.

21. We recognise the need to strengthen actions to build resilience to climate variability and climate change in sectors such as agriculture and water management, and the threat posed to food security, health, land degradation and biodiversity.

22. We recognise the need for increasing access to reliable and affordable energy services for the poor in Africa, particularly from renewable and energy efficient sources.

23. We acknowledge the climate change recommendations of the Commission for Africa report and recognise the need for international support to strengthen Africa's ability to cope with climate variability and climate change. We welcome the Commission's conclusions that partnerships for development must be African led, strengthen existing capacity and be underpinned by good governance.

24. We are committed to supporting an effective international response:

I. to help Africa understand and manage climate risk by building scientific and technical capacity in Africa including through existing initiatives such as the Global Climate Observing System and Global Earth Observing System of Systems, linking its scientists into the international community and strengthening Africa's regional climate centres;

II. for multilateral development agencies to develop and implement 'best practice' guidelines for screening Africa's climate risks within development portfolios, drawing on relevant experience from all regions.

III. to integrate measures to address the impacts of climate change for Africa in international development assistance and facilitate their integration in regional and national development plans.

IV. To advance programmes to increase the resilience of agricultural productivity, such as NEPAD's Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme.

25. We reaffirm our commitment to the UNFCCC Buenos Aires Programme of Work on adaptation.

26. We look forward to a successful replenishment of the Global Environment Facility.

27. We noted the Report of the UN High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Opportunities which recognises that climate change is a threat to global security. We look forward to further discussions at the Millennium Review Summit in September 2005 on how development strategies can be strengthened to build national resilience to climate impacts.