FRANCE

France is the second most significant importer of tropical hardwood sawnlogs in Europe, behind Italy.

It is also the largest European and the second largest global importer of tropical timber from Africa. Its main supplying countries in Africa are Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Liberia - all thought to export illegal timber.

Trade analysis shows that the import of sawnlogs is declining and being replaced by sawn timber, for which the country is a distant third, behind Spain and Italy in terms of imports. France is the main export destination for okoum veneer and plywood from Gabon. The French trading relationship with Ghana is more recent and France is now the third most important destination for Ghanaian exports, after Germany and Italy. Due to the Cameroon log export ban on certain species, only 4 percent of imports are from here, whereas over 20 percent of France's round log import comes from Congo Brazzaville.

The French government imports an estimated US$2.8 billion of timber and wood products every year. In the light of this the French Government has recently developed a new procurement policy which may go some way to addressing the problem although it has not been welcomed by NGOs. The French timber trade federation has also considered joining the EU Timber Trade Action Plan.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/04/2012	Where Next for Governance Reform? This article for ETFRN News explains the Chatham House Illegal Logging Indicators project and examines ...	Sam Lawson, Chatham House (for ETFRN Newsletter no.53)
	< BACK TO TOP
15/07/2010	Illegal Logging and Related Trade: Indicators of the Global Response - Country Report Cards This document contains the individual report cards for each country covered in the study. ...	Chatham House (Sam Lawson & Larry MacFaul)
	< BACK TO TOP
15/07/2010	Chatham House Illegal Logging Indicators Country Report Card - France ...	Chatham House (Sam Lawson & Larry MacFaul)
	< BACK TO TOP
01/03/2009	Buying a sustainable future? Timber procurement policies in Europe and Japan The aim of this publication is to act as a central source of information on the timber procurement policies ...	FERN
	< BACK TO TOP
01/09/2007	Summary of Public Procurement Policies Summary documents with details of governmental timber procurement policies in a comparitive table format. ...	Proforest
	< BACK TO TOP
30/04/2007	WWF Illegal Logging Government Barometer 2007 (No. IV) The Barometer assesses the efforts of European governments to implement the EU's Action Plan on ...	WWF
	< BACK TO TOP
01/03/2007	European Commission FLEGT Briefing Sheets (French Version) An updated series of documents ( ...	European Commission
	< BACK TO TOP
01/03/2007	Good Wood, Good Business Good Wood, Good Business is written mainly for CEOs or senior managers of companies that produce and/or ...	Tropical Forest Trust
	< BACK TO TOP
12/02/2007	Le Commerce du Bois: Environmental Charter test edit ...	Le Commerce du Bois (France)
	< BACK TO TOP
01/05/2006	Demand-Side Options: Policies and measures for reducing imports of illegal timber and timber products to consumer countries Looks at the options available to governments of consumer countries to reduce their contribution to illegal ...	Chatham House (Duncan Brack and Jade Saunders)
	< BACK TO TOP
01/12/2005	GREENPEACE REPORT - Illegal Logging in Cameroon: How French Government Action is Fuelling Rainforest Destruction Takes a closer look at the Cameroonian logging industry and at France as the largest importer of African ...	Greenpeace
	< BACK TO TOP
22/11/2005	Failing the Forests: Europe's Illegal Timber Trade Based on trade data for six key timber-producing regions – the Amazon Basin, the Baltic States, ...	WWF
	< BACK TO TOP
08/07/2005	G8 Gleneagles Communique The final statement from the G8 summit in Gleneagles. The Heads of Government accepted the importance ...	G8 Heads of Government
	< BACK TO TOP
08/04/2005	Documents on French public procurement Documents relating to French policy on public procurement of timber. ...	French Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development
	< BACK TO TOP
07/04/2004	Plan d'Action du Gouvernement enfaveur des Forêts Tropicales The French Government's Action Plan for tropical forests. ...	Government of France
	< BACK TO TOP
01/04/2004	European Commission FLEGT Briefing sheets (French 2004 version) These are the original versions of this European Commission series translated into French (also ...	European Commission
	< BACK TO TOP
01/08/2001	FERN Illegal timber trade statistics Estimates of illegal timber imported by EU member states from Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia and Malays ...	FERN
	< BACK TO TOP

NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
17/07/2012	Cameroon to protect forests with satellite monitoring Yaounde - Cameroon has joined a Congo Basin initiative that uses satellite imagery to monitor changes ...	Reuters AlertNet
	< BACK TO TOP
15/02/2012	Europe is falling behind on tackling unsustainable timber trade EU countries are not doing enough to stem the flow of illegal and unsustainable timber or regulating ...	ClickGreen
	< BACK TO TOP
30/03/2010	Chinese plywood boss stopped from leaving Gabon Gabon authorities have barred the Chinese buyer of an former European plywood giant from leaving the ...	Terra Daily
	< BACK TO TOP
15/03/2010	Environmental groups call on French shipping company Delmas to cancel shipment of precious wood from Madagascar Washington - Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today called on French shipping ...	PR Newswire
	< BACK TO TOP
13/03/2010	Thousands of tons of illegal timber in Madagascar readied for export As the President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, argues in Paris that more funding is needed to stop deforestation ...	Mongabay.com
	< BACK TO TOP
11/01/2010	World Bank, European governments finance illegal timber exports from Madagascar While Madagascar's current government has drawn sharp criticism from the international community ...	WildMadagascar.org (part of Mongabay.com)
	< BACK TO TOP
11/01/2010	Madagascar sanctions logging of national parks Madagascar has legalized the export of rosewood logs, possibly ushering in renewed logging of the country's ...	WildMadagascar.org (part of Mongabay.com)
	< BACK TO TOP
07/01/2010	Facing cash crunch, will Madagascar's politicians sanction rainforest plunder? Facing a severe cash crunch in the aftermath of a March military coup which triggered donor governments ...	WildMadagascar.org (part of Mongabay.com)
	< BACK TO TOP
17/12/2009	French company CMA-CGM facilitating destruction of Madagascar's rainforests, undermining France's position in Copenhagen Delmas, a subsidiary of French shipping giant CMA-CGM, is facilitating the destruction of Madagascar's ...	Mongabay.com
	< BACK TO TOP
16/12/2009	U.S. pledges $1 billion toward $3.5 billion deforestation fund The U.S. pledged $1 billion toward a $3.5 billion fund that includes the U.K., Australia, France, Japan ...	Bloomberg
	< BACK TO TOP
30/10/2009	The West fuels illegal Myanmar timber trade Bangkok - The United States may have imported $3.8 billion of illegal timber products from China last ...	The China Post
	< BACK TO TOP
02/04/2009	Ikea - you can't build a green reputation with a flatpack DIY manual Huge out-of-town stores that are inaccessible by public transport, illegally logged timber products and ...	Guardian, UK
	< BACK TO TOP
18/03/2008	Amazon timber shipment blocked in France Greenpeace - Yesterday afternoon, the crew of one of our ships - the Arctic Sunrise - swung into action ...	Greenpeace UK (UK)
	< BACK TO TOP
17/03/2008	Ship with Amazon wood tracked to Europe, blocked by activists (Greenpeace Press Release) Caen, France ' We've tracked a shipment of suspect wood from the ...	Greenpeace International (Netherlands)
	< BACK TO TOP
30/04/2007	EU governments failing the forests Brussels, Belgium European governments are dragging their heels on a key EU initiative designed to tackle ...	WWF
	< BACK TO TOP
21/04/2006	Survey: European countries care less about illegal logging issues Gland, Switzerland – A new WWF report ranks 22 European Union governments and Switzerland on their ...	WWF International
	< BACK TO TOP
15/12/2005	French illegal timber imports driving gorillas to extinction Greenpeace Press Release - Africa has already lost two-thirds of its ancient forests in the last thirty ...	Greenpeace
	< BACK TO TOP
11/02/2005	World leaders must take action on Congo agreement African heads of state and French President Jacques Chirac have jointly pledged to protect the Congo ...	Environmental Data Interactive (UK)
	< BACK TO TOP
01/04/2004	L'achat public en renfort pour lutter contre les abus du commerce illgal de bois tropical The French government has published a document setting out measures it is taking to ensure that wood ...	AchatPublic.com
	< BACK TO TOP
15/05/2003	Greenpeace uncovers contentious timber in French port Greenpeace activists uncovered approximately 8000 cubic metres of contentious timber from Liberia, Cameroon ...	Greenpeace
	< BACK TO TOP

PRESENTATIONS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
09/02/2012	Establishing a European Information Platform on timber legality	Julien Massetti, FLEGT Competent Authority, France
	< BACK TO TOP
20/07/2006	How to access the French public procurement policy on timber and wood products	French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Caroline Merle and Veronique Joucla)
	< BACK TO TOP
20/01/2006	Private Sector Update: Le Commerce du Bois Environmental Charter	Le Commerce du Bois (Eric Boilley)
	< BACK TO TOP

EVENTS

DATE	TITLE
Thursday 20th July 2006	Illegal Logging Update and Stakeholder Consultation Number 8 The eighth in a regular series of meetings coordinated by Chatham House and funded by DFID. The meeting ...
	< BACK TO TOP
Thursday 19th January 2006	Illegal Logging Update and Stakeholder Consultation Number 7 The seventh in a regular series of meetings coordinated by Chatham House and funded by DFID. The meeting ...
	< BACK TO TOP

LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
France: Ministre de l'Ecologie et du Dveloppement	Link to French governmental pages on their timber procurement policies (in French).	Broken link
	< BACK TO TOP
Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE)	The MCPFE is a political initiative working towards the protection and sustainable management of forests in Europe. It involves 44 European countries, the EC, and cooperates with countries outside of Europe and international organizations that participate as observers.	Broken link
	< BACK TO TOP