L 288/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 15.11.2000 REGULATION (EC) No 2494/2000 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 7 November 2000 on measures to promote the conservation and sustainable management of tropical forests and other forests in developing countries THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 175 and 179 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), After consulting the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (*), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 27 July 2000. Whereas: (1)  Forests have a variety of functions and values for mankind and can contribute to the achievement of Community development and environment objectives such as the campaign against poverty, sustainable economic and social development and the protection of the environment. (20 In numerous resolutions, the European Parliament has expressed its concern over the destruction of forests and the consequences for forest-dependent people, in partic- ular indigenous peoples. (3)  In reply to the request by the European Parliament in its Resolution on the European Union's forestry strategy (¥) the Commission has adopted, a Communication ‘Forests and Development: the EC approach’ setting out a strategy for Community action on the promotion of the conservation and sustainable management of forests in developing countries. (4)  The objectives of this strategy are to be pursued in the context of the broader Community aim of promoting the conservation and sustainable use of forests, in what- ever geographical area or climate zone they may be situated. (5)  The Community and its Member States are signatories to the Rio Declaration and the Agenda 21 action programme and are committed to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (Ungass) resolution ‘Programme for the further implementation of Agenda 21 () OJ C 87, 29.3.1999, p. 97 andOJ C 248 E, 29.8.2000, p. 97. () O C 258, 10.9.1999, p. 13. (’) Opinion of the European Parliament of 5 May 1999 (O] C 279, 1.10.1999, p. 184), Council Common Position of 16 December 1999 (O] C 64, 6.3.2000, p. 55) and Decision of the European Parliament of 14 March 2000 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Decision of the European Parliament of 20 September 2000 and Council Decision of 7 September 2000. () O] C 55, 24.2.1997, p. 22. (6) (10) (11) 0) ) 0] 0] The Community and its Member States are members of the World Trade Organisation and parties to Multilateral Environment Agreements, notably the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention to Combat Deserti- fication; They are thus committed to take into account the common but differentiated responsibilities of devel- oped parties and developing parties on these subjects. In its 1997 Special Session, the United Nations General Assembly has endorsed the proposals for action formu- lated in the framework of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF). The Community and its Member States are fully committed to the implementation of these proposals. Council Regulation (EC) No 3062/95 of 20 December 1995 on operations to promote tropical forests (°) set out the framework for Community assistance in this area. Regulation (EC) No 3062/95 was applicable until 31 December 1999. The experience acquired during the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 3062/95 should be reflected in this Regulation. In its Resolution of 30 November 1998, the Council acknowledges the role that indigenous peoples play in managing the environment, in particular with regard to the conservation and sustainable use of forests in devel- oping countries. The financial instruments available to the Community for supporting the conservation and sustainable develop- ment of forests should be supplemented. Provision should be made for funding the activities referred to in this Regulation. Considerable financial resources are necessary for a significant contribution to the protection of tropical and other forests in developing countries, where deforestation has led, or threatens to lead, to environmental disasters such as flooding or air pollution. This Regulation lays down, for the entire duration of the programme it establishes, a financial framework consti- tuting the prime reference, within the meaning of point 33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 6 May 1999 on budgetary discipline and improve- ment of the budgetary procedure (°), for the budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure. L 327, 30.12.1995, p. 9. C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.