FERN’s aim is to work with partners to improve forest governance so as to halt the illegal timber trade in Europe and return forest land to the ownership of local communities.
FERN’s analysis: Around half of the tropical timber and 20 per cent of timber from boreal forests imported into the EU is illegally sourced. Illegal logging destroys forests and damages communities, but it is hard to tackle because it is often an integral part of a nation’s economy, giving financial support to political parties and companies. FERN believes the challenge is to address the root causes of illegal operations: corruption, unclear tenure situation and the excessive influence of the timber industry.
What FERN is doing: FERN’s forest law and governance campaign works with partners to enable the implementation of the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan in a way that improves forest governance strengthens forest peoples’ rights and makes the timber industry transparent and accountable. At the centre of this plan is the development of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between the EU and timber producing countries to control illegal timber imports to the EU and encourage partner countries to improve their forest governance.
FERN is following progress on VPAs in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ghana, Indonesia, Liberia, Malaysia and Republic of Congo. Updates are provided in our monthly newsletter Forest Watch. To sign-up to Forest Watch, please click here.
To learn more about this campaign: see what is EU FLEGT, www.loggingoff.info, “Consultation requirements under FLEGT”, and “Options for Europe.”
