18 Amendments of Karsten LUCKE related to 2021/2178(INI)
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Recalls that the EU-African trade relations and initiatives, like the one on cocoa, must rely on transparent and reliable monitoring and accountability, and on civil society participation securing a bottom-up approach;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the EU to actively support the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),which presents a major opportunity for African countries to boost inclusive growth, enable sustainable development, reduce poverty and improve living standards; notes that the AfCFTA paves the way for a fundamental transformation of the continent’s development prospects; emphasises that the AfCFTA should make for integration that benefits all African populations, including the most marginalised; recalls that there are developmental differences between African countries which must be taken into account in order not to increase inequalities; takes the view that EU support to the AfCFTA should focus on the development of regulatory frameworks to prevent a ‘race to the bottom’ of social and environmental norms;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Underlines that EU-Africa trade and economic cooperation should give priority to regional integration on the African continent; calls for the Union to step up its support for African integration strategies and ensure that there is consistency between the continental, regional and national levels at which it is implemented;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Considers that the EU-African partnership should especially support female and youth entrepreneurship in rural and urban areas, and that to do so it is essential to support equal access to economic and productive resources such as financial services and land rights; calls for the development of exchanges between African and European female entrepreneurs by means of platforms that enable networking, experience-sharing and the production of common projects;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Recalls that the position of women can be strengthened with strong provisions in trade agreements on gender and trade; calls in this regard on the Commission to assist the African Union with the implementation of its Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and to implement measures that contribute to the achievement of gender equality in its trade agreements with African countries;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. Calls on the EU and its member states to make a commitment to support African countries to implement ambitious and just climate action; calls on the EU that financing under the new NDICI instrument must champion a human rights-based approach that makes local communities and indigenous peoples central to climate, environmental and development efforts, starting with civil society and community consultation;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4 d. Recalls that Africa is home to exceptional biodiversity; expresses its deep concern about over exploitation of natural resources and the impact of reduced biodiversity on resilience levels; is particularly concerned by the fact that the pace of deforestation is increasing in Africa; points out that the destruction of the African rainforests leads to an irreversible loss of biodiversity and of carbon sinks, as well as of the homes and ways of life of indigenous communities living in the forests; recalls that forests contribute significantly to reaching climate targets, protecting biodiversity and preventing desertification and extremes oil erosion;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)
Paragraph 4 e (new)
4 e. Calls for the link between public health and biodiversity in line with the ‘one health’ approach to be taken into account; welcomes the announcement of the NaturAfrica initiative, which aims to protect wildlife and ecosystems, and the review of the action plan against wildlife trafficking; stresses that the NaturAfrica initiative should be developed in consultation with all stakeholders, paying particular attention to the rights of local communities, indigenous peoples, and women; underlines that it should support African governments and local populations in tackling major drivers of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation in a holistic and systematic way, including by offering support for well managed protected area networks; urges the EU and Africa to recognise and protect indigenous people’s rights to customary ownership and control of their lands and natural resources as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and International Labour Organization Convention 169, and to comply with the principle of free, prior and informed consent;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Paragraph 4 f (new)
4 f. Points out the central importance of the agricultural and food sectors in the economy and in providing decent and sustainable job opportunities in rural areas; underlines that this, in most cases, concerns smallholdings and family farms; notes the importance of promoting and enhancing measures and tools to support increasing product quality, diversification of products, sustainable modernisation of agricultural practices, safe working conditions and measures to strengthen the resilience of farmers; considers that the development of a sustainable agricultural sector and of rural areas should be at the centre of EU-Africa relations;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 g (new)
Paragraph 4 g (new)
4 g. Welcomes the fact that the new EU-Africa partnership advocates for the development of environmentally friendly agricultural practices; recalls the fact that agroecology’s capacity to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability has been recognised in landmark reports from the IPCC and IPBES, as well as the World Bank and FAO-led global agricultural assessment (IAASTD); stresses the importance of promoting agroecology, agroforestry, local production and sustainable food systems which focus on the development of short supply chains in both national policies and international fora, in order to ensure food and nutritional security for all as well as increasing the sustainable productivity of the agricultural sector and its resilience to climate change;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 h (new)
Paragraph 4 h (new)
4 h. Underlines that the use of pesticides in intensive agriculture in Africa can impact the health of workers who have very little access to training on plant protection and healthcare, in addition to causing environmental damage; calls for education and training in sustainable plant protection approaches and alternatives to pesticides and for the minimisation of exposure to hazardous substances; denounces the double standards applied by the EU regarding pesticides by allowing the export of hazardous substances that are banned in the EU to African countries and other third countries; asks, therefore, for the modification of the current EU rules in order to eliminate this legal incoherence, in line with the Rotterdam Convention of 1998 and the Green Deal;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 l (new)
Paragraph 4 l (new)
4 l. Stresses that COVID-19 and the ensuing economic crisis and closure of borders, locust infestations and desertification have deteriorated the already difficult food security situation in Africa and shone a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of the global food system; stresses the potential of local and regional markets to address current food system failures;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 m (new)
Paragraph 4 m (new)
4 m. Calls for the EU-Africa partnership to focus its efforts in the area of agriculture on safeguarding African countries’ right to food sovereignty and on increasing their food security as a priority, as well as enhancing their capacity to meet the nutritional requirements of their populations;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 n (new)
Paragraph 4 n (new)
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 o (new)
Paragraph 4 o (new)
4 o. Emphasises the importance of supporting small farms and pastoralism and other traditional/local food systems in order to strengthen their resilience and boost their contribution to food security, sustainable resource management and biodiversity conservation;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 p (new)
Paragraph 4 p (new)
4 p. Calls for a stronger reliance on the contributions of African traditional knowledge in the just transition, especially regarding agricultural practices, fisheries and forest protection, thereby empowering the African people and local communities;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 q (new)
Paragraph 4 q (new)
4 q. Stresses the importance of including, in the EU-Africa partnership, the protection and promotion of the right of local communities to access and control natural resources such as land and water; deplores the fact that land grabbing is rife in Africa; points out that it is a brutal practice that undermines food sovereignty and endangers rural African communities; stresses the importance of launching an inclusive process with the aim of guaranteeing the effective participation of civil society organisations and local communities in the development, implementation and monitoring of policies and actions related to land grabbing; calls for the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) to be observed in all projects that promote the protection of land rights, including in trade, and also for measures to ensure that projects do not endanger the land rights of small-scale farmers;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 r (new)
Paragraph 4 r (new)
4 r. Notes that, for example, grazing rights and community pastures are traditional land use rights based on common law and not on securitised property rights; emphasises, however, the fundamental importance of protecting these common rights for rural populations;