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EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Chatham House Update July 2007

EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Chatham House Update July 2007. The EU FLEGT Action Plan. Measures to combat illegal logging and associated trade by influencing both demand and supply. Partnership agreements with producer countries that support:

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EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Chatham House Update July 2007

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  1. EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Chatham House UpdateJuly 2007

  2. The EU FLEGT Action Plan Measures to combat illegal logging and associated trade by influencing both demand and supply. • Partnership agreements with producer countries that support: • Governance reforms • Measures to regulate and control timber trade • Measures that verify legality of products • Measures to increase demand for legally sourced timber: • Public procurement policies • Private sector initiatives, eg Timber Assoc. Codes • Financing and investment, eg lending criteria • Awareness raising: Forum C.Africa, China, C.America

  3. FLEGT Partnerships: • a binding agreement between the EU and a Partner Country by which we undertake to work together to stop illegal logging and improve forest management • will strengthen producer countries efforts to improve governance, including measures to build capacity, improve control and monitoring, enhance transparency support measures to mitigate any negative impacts on poor people • will establish export licenses for the EU based on legality verification. Legality = appropriate laws of partner country • will secure and improve EU market access

  4. Building partnerships A phased consultation process • to introduce the opportunities of the FLEGT; • encourage debate and analysis of governance challenges; • provide a platform for different stakeholder groups to engage, • a structured negotiation framework and finally • a legally binding agreed plan of action to improve governance and trade

  5. Building partnerships (2) • Introduction to stakeholders: discussions on-going in many countries led by NGOs, private sector, and EU • Structured consultations to prepare for negotiations in several countries (eg Liberia, Gabon, Central Africa Republic, DRC): to build awareness & support, to agree legality definition, to diagnose problems, improve verification systems, id. governance challenges • July 3/4 Central Africa FLEGT Forum; June 29 Liberia National FLEGT Workshop • Formal negotiations on the agreement & accompanying measures: Malaysia, Indonesia, Ghana in negotiations & to conclude late 2007/early 2008. Congo & Cameroon have decided to negotiate; • Implementation: develop new systems & capacities of government, civil society, private sector : FLEGT licensing will likely be later allowing time for upgrade of systems

  6. The key elements of VPA • Legality Assurance System AND • Measures to mitigate negative impacts on poor • Capacity building for Gov’t,NGOs, pvt sector • Transparency measures • Trade promotion • Consultation and communications • Monitoring • Legislative/ regulatory reforms where relevant

  7. Legality Assurance system FLEGT licensing requires a Legality Assurance System (LAS) which has 5 components • A definition of legally-produced timber • A system to verify compliance with definition • A system to trace products from forest to export • A licensing system for exports • Independent monitoring of all components Guidance is now available on principles and criteria for the Legality Assurance Systems to meet FLEGT requirements including for independent monitoring

  8. Challenges in VPA negotiations • Getting the balance right: responsive, positive, but slow enough to build strong alliances for action in country while maintaining EU stakeholder support for FLEGT • The market: where is the carrot? we want to create market advantage for verified legal, but price premiums not likely; • Legality: all laws are important but where are the bounds for verification? • Consultations: important for legitimacy, quality, accountability, but also take time

  9. Ideas being debated in VPA negotiation • FLEGT License may apply for all exports • Better regulation of domestic market • Wider product scope to include main export types • Strong stakeholder involvement in developing negotiation positions can lead to a shift in working relationships between state and non state actors • Growth in COC and company based legality verification may serve to address problem of how to handle third country imports • All countries cast FLEGT VPA as foundation nfor achieving sustaibable forest management certification

  10. Measures to improve the market for FLEGT licensed products Partnership Agreements blend development and trade measures. They are strengthened by actions that influence the market, such as: • Member State public procurement • Private sector initiatives • Measures to ensure responsible investments • Trade promotion for verified legal

  11. Public Procurement • Public procurement policies arevery influential in leading the market. Be, DK, F, NL, UK, DE and Japan have introduced procurement policies. • New EU Communication on Green Public Procurement policies is under discussion and will include a focus on timber. We aim to: • We encourage more countries to adopt similar policies: this helps make FLEGT partnerships more attractive. • We need better coherence between national schemes. • Policies should include a minimum standard of verified legal forest products. FLEGT licence should provide evidence of legality

  12. Private sector initiatives • Private sector is very engaged. Recognise status quo undermines legitimate business & image of timber as a green product. • Dialogue between EU industry & developing country operators helps create awareness and support for FLEGT • Responsible purchasing codes of trade federations in UK, Spain, France, NL& Germany encourage members to promote trade in legal and certified timber • Trade networks for legal and sustainable products and business to business partnerships are increasingly popular and help create awareness and support for FLEGT partnerships; Work underway with different initiatives in Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, CAR, Ghana, Brazil, Bolivia, Guyana

  13. Regional Initiatives build political support • Central Africa FLEGT Forum July 2007 • Central America Ministers meeting late 2007 • Joint EU-China Ministerial meeting on illegal logging: Sept 2007 • East Africa FLEG process and Ministerial Council of East Africa Community

  14. Conclusions • Growing awareness and interest in FLEGT in producer countries • Need to focus on VPAs & ensuring they build strong engagement with the private sector and civil society • Systems & standards developed for the VPAs may influence private sector initiatives & other consumer markets • The Commission recognises need for: • Improved communications to build greater support for FLEGT • Guidance needed on the process to prepare for VPA • More stakeholder meetings to discuss guidance on elements of Legality Assurance Systems

  15. Thank youjohn.bazill@ec.europa.eumaria.pachta@ec.europa.euJulia.Falconer@ec.europa.euNew web addresshttp://ec.europa.eu/development/Policies/9Interventionareas/Environment/forest/Forestry_intro_en.cfm

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