BELGIUM

Belgium imported 3.53 million cubic metres of timber in 2002 of which 3 percent was tropical and the majority came from four African countries.

The main import products from the region are sawnwood, veneer and logs. Sawnwood comes mainly from Cameroon and logs from Cameroon and Gabon. Belgium imports 52 percent of its timber from Cameroon and 33 percent from Ghana, and the most important species are Afzelia and Moabi.

The Belgian Government is developing a procurement policy to remove illegal timber from government contracts and over 70 percent of the municipalities signed an agreement with the government that obliges them to use FSC certified wood in municipal building projects where possible and available, although it is not clear how this is being implemented or enforced.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
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
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01/09/2007	Summary of Public Procurement Policies Summary documents with details of governmental timber procurement policies in a comparitive table format. ...	Proforest
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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
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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)
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18/11/2005	Public procurement policy aimed at promoting the use of timber and wood from sustainably managed forests Government circular of 2005 setting out the Belgian timber procurement policy. This is an English translation ...	Government of Belgium
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
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
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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
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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
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16/06/2005	Europe urgently needs legislation on illegal logging Press Release: The Belgian Minister of Environment, Bruno Tobback, calls on the European Commission to ...	Minstry of the Environment (Belgium)
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21/12/2004	Commission commits €20 million to the fight against illegal logging and the trade in illegal timber The European Commission today committed €20m to support the EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, ...	EUROPA (Belgium)
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PRESENTATIONS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
10/06/2008	Timber procurement policies in Denmark, UK, Netherlands & Belgium: next steps and a comparative study of criteria	Lizet Quaak, Netherlands, Marigold Norman, UK, & Sofie Tind Nielsen, CPET
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20/07/2006	Belgian federal public procurement policy on timber and timber products	Belgian Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment (Christophe Van Orshoven)
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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 ...
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LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
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
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