Illegal Logging & FLEG(T)

The European Union and the Government of Liberia, which presides over half of the remaining rainforest in West Africa, announced today a landmark agreement to ensure that all Liberian timber products exported from Liberia to the EU are derived from legal sources and that the resulting trade will benefit the Liberian people. EFIs EU FLEGT Facility provided technical support to the preparation, negotiation and implementation of FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement in Liberia.

AFTER four years of negotiations, the EU and Indonesia have this week finalised an historic new trade agreement to stem the flow of illegal timber to European markets.

It’s easy to point fingers at a particular country’s illegal log trade, but we need to keep in mind that the industry is feeding the world’s demand for timber. Illegal logging is a collective problem that requires a collective solution, says Nalin Kishor of the World Bank.

Stepping up its fight against illegal logging, the government began the implementation early this month of a ban on exports of illegally harvested wood and wood products.

The government made it mandatory for forestry companies to obtain official certificates to show that timber has been legally sourced without damaging forests. The policy has been deemed necessary since according to official statistics illegal logging activities have been destroying more than 1 million hectares of forests each year.