Indonesia has been stepping up action against illegal logging and other forest crimes, with an increase in law enforcement operations and hundreds of court cases in the past three years. However, improving monitoring and law enforcement remains a challenging task.
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On a cool grey day in Belgium last month, a group of visitors from Guyana gathered at Antwerp port and imagined a future in which their country’s timber products flow freely into the EU, bypassing red tape because every item has been verified to be legal.
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It’s hard to follow the law when the law doesn’t follow itself, and this has long been a challenge for the timber sector in Guyana. Inconsistencies in the legal framework there have made it difficult for businesses involved in harvesting and processing wood from Guyana’s forests to follow the law. It has also made it difficult for authorities to enforce it. But that all changed this year, when Guyana enacted much-needed reforms.
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Two reports contribute to an undertaking by the European Union (EU) and the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic (PDR) to initiate joint assessments to provide a baseline for, and inform progress of, their process to negotiate a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on forest law enforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT).
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Maria Murliantini is a trailblazer. The factory she owns in Indonesia’s furniture-making capital Jepara was one of the first to export only products made from verified legal teak to buyers in the EU.
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The EU and Guyana have concluded negotiations on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT). The agreement will help improve forest governance, address illegal logging and promote trade in verified legal timber products.
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- EU Timber Regulation
- Regulation (EU) No 995/2010, which lays down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market to counter the trade in illegally harvested timber and timber products. The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) is one part of the EU’s FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) Action Plan which aims to reduce illegal logging worldwide. The EUTR makes it an offence to place for the first time illegally harvested timber and timber products onto the EU market. Furthermore, operators who place timber or timber products on the market for the first time must have due diligence system to mitigate the risk that this timber has been illegally harvested. The EU Timber Regulation entered into force on 3rd March 2013 and it is directly applicable in all EU member states.
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- VPA partner country
- Any timber exporting country that enters into negotiations to conclude a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union.
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- Supply chain
- A timber supply chain is a system of organisations, people, technology, activities, information and resources that move and transform timber and timber products from the point of harvest or import to its final sale.
