The UK’s Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Programme
Improved understanding of causes, scale and solutions to illegal logging and associated trade
In formulating approaches to tackling illegal logging, it’s important to understand the nature and magnitude of its impacts on the environments and economies in countries where the problem is prevalent. The factors that cause and sustain illegal logging – market demand and industrial over-capacity, inappropriate policies, weak enforcement and corruption – also need to be better understood. While such improved understanding may lead to effective solutions, it’s also necessary to ensure that policy options and enforcement mechanisms don’t have undue negative impacts on poor and vulnerable communities, especially those who traditionally depend on forests for their livelihoods. Key activities under the programme include:
Estimates of the nature, scale and impacts of illegal logging Analysis of factors that sustain illegal logging Analysis of impacts of illegal logging and enforcement actions on poor people Policy reform and countermeasures resulting from improved understanding
Estimates of the nature, scale and impacts of illegal logging
· The Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) has completed a study of tropical timber export and import statistics. This study analyses international timber trade data relating to four key UK trade partners as part of a wider international trade study co-ordinated by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) (More...).
· RIIA is undertaking a further study on selection of indicators to track the impacts of global initiatives aimed at tackling illegal logging. Final recommendations are expected to be published shortly.
· The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has published four thematic reviews relating to impacts of and solutions to illegal logging in Central America (More…). These cover: - illicit trans-boundary flows in the region (primarily Nicaragua- Honduras) - economic losses (lost public revenue and wasted public investment) - legal and policy 'barriers to legality' acting on forest producers, and corresponding 'pull factors into illegality', including links to organised crime - emerging best practices for prevention of illegal logging - targeted primarily at Latin American policy makers
· The European Forestry Institute (EFI) has completed a study, jointly financed by the UK and Finland, comparing estimates of illegal logging in north-western Russia and examining the potential trade impacts of a planned EU FLEGT Agreement that would control trade in illegally-sourced timber. (More…).	�Top ƒOverview
Analysis of factors that sustain illegal logging
· RIIA has undertaken a study on opportunities for action, at UK, EU and global levels, for regulating and reducing the flow of investment finance to illegal forestry activities. Following an initial workshop in September 2003, a report with recommendations for EU member state government action has been published (More…).
· Forest Trends and the Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy (CCAP) have worked with partners in China and across the region to fill information gaps and build a knowledge base on China’s forest products market and impacts on the industry and export trade of China's Asia-Pacific supplying countries. Work (more…) covers the following types of activity: - Analysing Chinese market trends and policies and the impacts and implications of these trends on China and supplying countries; - Strengthening networks of forest market and policy analysts and advocates in China and the East Asian region; and - Engaging policy and market leaders in China and key supplying countries in East Asia to advance pro-poor policy and market reforms.
· CIFOR and Forest Trends have started a further study to examine trade scenarios in East Asia. This aims to help promote stronger forest governance and more secure rural livelihoods, by filling important gaps in previous information and analysis; packaging outputs in a form that is readily accessible to regional stakeholders; and engaging policymakers and other stakeholders in the region in assessing likely implications of current trends and considering potential policy interventions to address emerging forest governance and trade issues. (More…).
· The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided support to Traffic-SE Asia to examine the effectiveness of Appendix II CITES listing of ramin (Gonostylus spp.) on illegal trade in this species in SE Asia. The findings are in the report, “Framing the Picture”. Ramin has now been listed in CITES Appendix II.
· DFID’s Multistakeholder Forestry Project in Indonesia supported the Indonesian NGOs, Indonesia Corruption Watch and Greenomics, to work with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry on a programme aimed at eliminating corruption from the process of awarding forest concessions.
Analysis of impacts of illegal logging and enforcement actions on poor people
· CIFOR has completed a series of desk studies covering six countries (Bolivia, Cameroon, Canada, Indonesia, Honduras and Nicaragua) on the impacts of measures to control illegal logging on poor people. A workshop to discuss these studies and produce a synthesis paper was held in Bogor, Indonesia in November 2003. “Justice in the Forest”, a synthesis of the work, was published in March 2006. (More...).
· The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) convened a Forest Governance Learning Group for sub-Saharan Africa. This has supported development of an alliance of independent agencies to improve understanding, exchange learning and develop and implement ideas related to forest governance for poverty reduction. Major impetus has been given to a second phase with agreement from the EC to support the work from 2005 to 2009 (More...).	�Top ƒOverview
Policy reform and countermeasures resulting from improved understanding
· In April 2002, the Governments of the UK and Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Illegal Logging. This committed both governments to take a range of actions to tackle illegal logging in Indonesia and eventually eliminate trade in illegally harvested timber between the two countries. The MoU is being implemented in accordance with a detailed plan (view summary) with the following priority activities underway: - Support to stakeholder consultations on defining legal timber resulting in a draft definition, which has tested in the field. The Indonesian certification body (LEI) will continue to co-ordinate consultations and further field tests with a view to agreement on a single legality standard for Indonesia. - In co-operation with The Nature Conservancy and the Worldwide Fund for Nature, systems to verify legal compliance of forest operations and track timber products from forest to export have been designed and tested. - Inter-agency and multi-stakeholder co-operation in West Kalimantan and Jambi provinces to identify training and equipment needs and improve enforcement and monitoring activities. - Support to drafting a new law to tackle illegal logging. - Support to design of incentives to encourage concessionaires to undergo voluntary compliance audits. - Support to refining a programme of mandatory concession audits. Support under the MoU will come to an end in December 2006. It is anticipated that some of its activities will be continued under an EC-funded FLEGT Support Project, due to start in March 2006. Indonesia has entered into similar arrangements with China, Japan, Norway and Korea .
· As a result of studies carried out by CIFOR, the Indonesian Government included crimes against forests and the environment, such as illegal logging, in amendments to its anti-money laundering laws (More…).
· To address the problem of over-capacity in the plywood industry, the Indonesian Government has launched a series of audits of plywood mills with the aim of closing down mills shown to be using illegal logs.
· The Government of Cameroon has engaged Resource Extraction Monitoring (REM) to succeed Global Witness as an Independent Forest Monitor to report to the Government on breaches of forest regulations (More...)
Last updated 15 May 2006