The objective of the forthcoming negotiations on exhaustible natural resources such as forestry and fishery resources, which are renewable but can be depleted without proper management, should be to establish trade rules that are fair and impartial for exporting and importing countries, and that contribute to the sustainable utilization of resources through the promotion of adequate resource conservation and management.
<Main point to be taken into account>
When renewable and exhaustible natural resources such as forestry and fishery products are addressed in the next negotiations, comprehensive consideration taking into account of the global environmental issues as well as deliberations and the rules of other relevant international frameworks, will be indispensable.
(Forestry products)
Forestry resources provide various public benefits. These benefits are maintained and fulfilled through proper management including forestry production activities.
As forest area is decreasing on a global scale, there has been a growing concern about the global environmental issues since the Earth Summit. The attainment of sustainable forest management is an important challenge to the world. In negotiations on forest products trade, careful consideration must be taken so as not to obstruct sustainable forest management.
Current trade rules provide merely insufficient disciplines against trade-distorting measures in exporting countries such as export restrictions on logs. Further close examination of these measures is required to make the negotiations truly fair.
With regard to these situations, and in examining market access, discipline over border measures should be established to consider the fulfillment of public interests through the maintenance of the forestry and timber industries of both of the exporting and the importing country.
(Fishery products)
When the market access issue is considered, rules for border measures should be disciplined so as not to promote fishing activities of flag-of-convenience (FOC) fleets and cause over-exploitation of fish stocks as a result of fishing operation ignoring resource management measures. These rules should take into account such factors as the performance of fishery resource conservation and management obligations, a stable supply of fishery products, and the roles and functions of fisheries and fishing communities in the respective countries.
The fishery subsidy issue should be addressed as one among many negative factors disturbing sustainable utilization of fishery resources, and solutions should be examined from the viewpoint of ensuring sustainable utilization of fishery resources. Due consideration should be given to the positive aspects of fishery subsidies contributing to sustainable utilization of fishery resources. Identification and examination of all the negative factors should be done at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which has in-depth knowledge of fishery management. The WTO should then fully consider the work of the FAO, and discuss how to deal with fishery subsidies. It should also be noted that sustainable utilization of fishery resources is being greatly disturbed by other negative factors such as ineffective fishery management and the fishing operations of flag-of-convenience fleets. Countries should make strenuous efforts toward solutions to these problems.
<Forum of negotiations>
9. With respect to forestry and fishery products that depend on exhaustible natural resources, comprehensive examination of relevant factors is indispensable, giving due consideration to the global environmental issues and resource conservation and management issues from a viewpoint of assuring sustainable utilization. To enable such comprehensive examinations, a group for forestry and fishery products separate from other non-agricultural products should be established.
As for renewable and exhaustible natural resources, such as forestry and fishery resources, that can be depleted without proper management, an improvement of market access based merely on short-term economic interest could adversely affect sustainable utilization of resources. We, therefore, propose that a group for forestry and fishery products should be established separately from that for other non-agricultural products, so as to enable examinations that will fully consider such aspects as the global environment issues and resource conservation and management.
<Forestry products>
Public benefits of forests
Forestry resources provide various public benefits, including land conservation, water reservoir, recreational use and mitigation of global warming, all of which are essential to human life. This has already been acknowledged in a series of international conferences namely the UNCED, the FAO Rome Declaration on forestry, etc. It has been urged, therefore, to take actions to deal with those issues.
It is important for Japan, where land disasters occur frequently due to its steep topographical and fragile geological features, to improve its land safety through the preservation and improvement of forests. Furthermore, forests can provide fully their public benefits only when they are utilized in a sustainable manner with proper operations including thinning. It is necessary for appropriate measures to be taken so as not to hinder efforts aimed at sustainable forestry management, including those to secure public benefits through forestry operations.
Global environmental issues and sustainable forestry management
Since the 'Earth Summit' in 1992, there has been a growing concern on the global environmental issues. Sustainable forest management is one of the most important challenges.
Forests, especially tropical forests, are rapidly decreasing and degrading partly due to inappropriate commercial cutting. In order to prevent deforestation and pursue compatibility of the preservation and utilization of forests, exporting countries should make efforts to minimize negative effects of wood products trade on environment through the promotion of proper forest management aimed at sustainable forest management and the implementation of appropriate environmental policies. On the other hand, in wood-importing countries, it is necessary for forest industries to thrive to achieve sustainable forest management while wood products are imported.
Considering these aspects of forestry resources, environmental issues, sustainable forest management and market access should be discussed together in the forthcoming negotiations based on the differences in natural and social conditions between countries.
Disciplines for wood exporting countries
Most major wood exporting countries implement log export restrictions which most probably violate Article 11 of GATT stating that no quantitative restrictions should be instituted or maintained in general. Current trade rules provide merely insufficient discipline against those measures. Furthermore, some wood exporting countries impose discriminatory levies of export tax between logs and finished products to protect the domestic industry.
In order to hold fair negotiations, we should, considering these aspects of wood products trade, ensure balanced rights and obligations between exporting and importing countries by examining not only import tariffs but also export restrictions and export tax. We should also establish global disciplines for enhancing public benefits of forests through sound development of forestry and wood industry in both of the exporting and importing country.
What market access ought to be
Forest resources provide public benefits through an appropriate forest management. At the same time, unless proper management, including forestry production, is implemented forest resources and their role of providing public benefits might be lost, thereby having great impact on people's lives.
Therefore, discussing discipline over border measures on forest products should promote enhancement of the public benefits of forests through a sound maintenance and development of forestry and wood industry in respective country.
Trade rules contributing to the conservation and management of fishery resources
Fishery resources are renewable and exhaustible natural resources, which can be depleted without proper management. At present, many fishery stocks are over-exploited, and approximately 40% of the world fishery products are subject to international trade. Therefore, with respect to the trade of fishery products, a certain framework is necessary so as to adequately reflect the viewpoints to supplement and reinforce measures for conservation and management for sustainable utilization. In this regard, it is appropriate to establish a separate group from that for industrial products.
If trade liberalization is promoted without taking proper measures for resource management, a serious concern is that international trade of such fishery products as obtained through fishing conducted in a manner causing over-exploitation neglecting the conditions of the resources concerned and from fishing practice not abiding by the rules for resource conservation and management is likely to increase. Currently, trade restriction measures are taken to ensure the effectiveness of resource conservation and management measures under the frameworks of international resource management organization, including ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas). Moreover, some countries take unilateral trade measures for similar reasons.
Fishery products provide valuable animal protein and thus contribute to food security. The depletion of fish stocks due to over-exploitation throughout the world is a threat to the sustainable supply. For a stable supply of fishery products, while ensuring balanced utilization of all trophic levels of the ecosystem without protecting specific species in an excessive manner, every nation should fulfill its obligation of controlling its waters and its fisheries and should ensure a stable supply of fish and fishery products to its nationals based on its domestic supply. When establishing international trade rules, the viewpoints above should be considered. In addition, the roles and functions of fisheries and fishing communities, including the maintenance of rural coastal communities, management of coastal areas, the contribution to environmental preservation and the provision of recreation opportunities to nationals, should also be considered..
Market Access
As for tariff and non-tariff measures on fishery products, full consideration should be made as to various factors including the relationship with conservation measures, the implementation status of the conservation and management obligation in each nation, the aspect of a stable supply of fishery products, and the social, economic and cultural roles played by the fisheries and fishing communities in each country.
International trade rules should be disciplined so as not to promote the fishing operations of flag-of-convenience fleets, which do not bear the resource conservation costs and not to lead to over-exploitation which neglects resource management.
Fishery subsidies
The fundamental issue to be focused on is how to ensure a sustainable utilization of fishery resources. At first, it is necessary to identify all factors which hinder the sustainable resource utilization, rather than to single out the fishery subsidies. It is further necessary to develop measures to deal with these negative factors. It should also be noted that there are positive fishery subsidies that contribute to the sustainability of fishery resources such as those for fishing capacity reduction, for improvement of fishery management, and the stock rehabilitation and enhancement. These positive aspects of fishery subsidies should be duly appreciated.
This type of technical work should be conducted by the FAO, which has an in-depth expertise on fishery management.
In the course of identifying all the negative factors and finding solutions thereto, how to deal with the fishery subsidy issue at the WTO should be considered.
It should be noted that there are several negative factors adversely affecting sustainable utilization of fishery resources such as ineffective fishery management, the lack of fishing capacity control, insufficient enforcement and operation by flag-of-convenience fleets which does not abide by international conservation rules. Needless to say, all countries should make strenuous efforts to solve these problems.
