18 Amendments of Barry ANDREWS related to 2020/0157M(NLE)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas almost half of the land area in Honduras is covered by forests, half of which is tropical rainforest; whereas there is still a huge resource of unclassified trees and species; whereas Honduras has lost about 12.5 % of its forest area since 2015 due mainly to climate change, forest fires, deforestation and illegal logging, and suffered a pest infestation in 2016;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas Honduras passed its Climate Change Law in 2014 and was the first state to publish its first nationally determined contribution (NDC) in the framework of the Paris Agreement the following year, of which one commitment is to restore one million hectares of forests;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the share of the forest sector in Honduras’ economy has decreased over the years representing around 3,6% of the GNP in the last 16 years owing to stricter requirements on the legality of timber in Honduras’ export markets and to forest destruction; whereas the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) process, which emphasises legality and good governance, is helping the forest sector to increase its share, provide rural jobs and generate income for Hondurans;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas Honduras is a lower- middle- income country where poverty, inequaliaccording to the World Bank classification; whereas it is the second poorest in Latin America, and third poorest in the Western Hemisphere; whereas the poverty, corruption, violence and impunity in Honduras remain persistent concerns, as well as the situation for women's rights, in particular the recent backlash concerning sexual and reproductive health rights;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas despite the fact that the Honduran Government has made positive commitments and initiated legislation to protect human rights defenders, it remains one of the most dangerous countries in the region for human and indigenous rights defenders and environmental activists who continue to be subject to abuses, violence, arbitrary detentions, threats and killings;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
F a. whereas the mandate of the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH) ended in January 2020 and was not renewed;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas the EU-Central America Association Agreement was concluded in 2012, and the trade part provisionally applied since 1st of August 2013;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
G b. whereas VPAs provides for a Joint Implementation Committee, responsible for its implementation and monitoring;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
J a. whereas the negotiations leading to the conclusion of this VPA have created a cooperative space among different stakeholders to discuss environmental, human rights, social and economic issues;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
K a. whereas a good forest management requires sustainable land tenure, respect of the environmental needs and human rights, transparency, legal security, trust and long-term investments;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K b (new)
Recital K b (new)
K b. whereas general elections will take place in Honduras before the end of 2021;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the conclusion of negotiations on the VPA between the EU and Honduras and calls for its swift ratification by both sides so it can enter into force in 2021, thus allowing for the important next steps in terms of implementation, including setting up the licencing;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Believes that the EU has a very important role and an obligation in improving both the supply and the demand side of timber, in order to responsibly reject illegally produced timber and to reinforce exporting countries in their efforts to combat illegal logging and corruption that results in destruction of their forests, climate change, and violation of human rights;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Highly appreciates that Honduras has managed to ensure involvement of government institutions, civil society, private sector, indigenous and afro- descendant people of Honduras, academia and communities, who accepted and contributed to the process to drafting the VPA; welcomes the fact that all these sectors agreed to be present around the same negotiating table and the achievement of the feeling of inclusiveness and the possibility to contribute;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Believes that the fight against corruption needs to be constant, in every part of the world; welcomes that transparency has proven useful in the process to concluding this VPA, and cannot be enough stressed in the forthcoming process of implementation;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Believes that the successful negotiations of this VPA also proves the importance of the Union’s Delegations to third countries;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Asks the Commission to annually report on the implementation of the EU- Honduras FLEGT VPA to Parliament, including on the work of the Joint Implementation Committee, calls on the Commission to consider improving the regulation on FLEGT licencing at the next review exercise in order to enable it to respond quickly to cases of significant infringements of VPA commitments;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Supports the European Commission in finding additional potential partners for future voluntary partnership agreements under FLEGT;