Published on : Tuesday, February 18, 2014
The 23rd Illegal Logging Update and Stakeholder Consultation Meeting was held at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on 6th-7th February 2014.
The Institute, more commonly known as Chatham House, is a globally renowned ‘think tank’ with the aim of promoting debate on significant international issues and current affairs in order to inform policy development and strategy. The subject of illegal logging has been at the core of Chatham House’s research efforts for over a decade. Held every six months, the Illegal Logging Stakeholder Update Meetings provide key updates on the latest regulatory and governance developments, initiatives and research in forest management and the illegal timber trade.
Over 100 delegates, including FIRA’s James Bell, attended across both days from a variety of stakeholders such as government representatives, the private sector, certification bodies, trade federations, research associations, academia and civil society. The programme included a series of presentations ranging from research case studies on illegal timber trade to industry perspectives. Many delegations representing national forest governance authorities from across the world were also present; specifically Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The first day focussed on a review of FLEGT (Forest Law, Enforcement, Governance and Trade), which underpins the EUTR by creating systems to identify legal timber products in producer countries and licences them for import to the EU. Updates on the progress of FLEGT and associated Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between the EU and exporting nations were particularly welcome. Several presentations also reported on FLEGT implementation and its effects on community forests, land tenure and social conditions for local people, with particular reference to the challenges and successes experienced to date.
The second day reviewed the implementation of the EU Timber Regulation across the Europe, with specific focus on enforcement as well as compliance opportunities and challenges. Of particular interest was a presentation by Interpol, an intergovernmental cooperative criminal police commission, covering their efforts in working with various governance authorities to establish timber related crime control systems. Subsequently, Greenpeace together with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) presented a case study from the Democratic Republic of Congo on illegal timber exports to the EU, Russian and Chinese flooring sectors. Incidentally, the EIA also announced the publication of their report ‘Liquidating the Forests: Hardwood Flooring, Organized Crime and the World’s Last Siberian Tigers’. Significantly, there was also a presentation by FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) representatives detailing how the respective certification schemes have adapted their standards and procedures to facilitate their members in meeting EUTR due diligence requirements.
Tags: Chatham House, EU Timber Regulation, FIRA, Illegal Logging Update, James Bell, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Stakeholder Consultation Meeting
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