The UK’s Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Programme
Effective communication and advocacy that maintain political will and the momentum for change and widens the base of support for action
The UK’s programme to tackle illegal logging relies on close co-operation between a number of government departments (DFID, Defra, FCO, DTI, HM Revenue and Customs, the Forestry Commission and others) as well as regular communication with private sector and civil society stakeholders. It is therefore vital that the ministers concerned regularly present government policies and explain developments. It is also important that ideas concerning the programme’s activities are exchanged between government and organisations representing key stakeholders, especially the timber industry and civil society. Activities under the programme include:
UK ministerial-level engagement Active involvement of industry Effective communications with stakeholders and wider public
UK ministerial-level engagement
· In January 2006, DFID Parliamentary Undersecretary, Gareth Thomas, addressing a stakeholder consultation at Chatham House, announced a new £24-million programme of support to tackle illegal logging.
· In November 2005, Defra Minister, Elliot Morley met with a group of European and African timber producers, importers and end users, and agreed a set of Government-industry cooperative actions relating to timber procurement, stimulation of forest sector investment, financial support for certification and transparency.
· Illegal logging was a main agenda item of the G8 Environmental and Development Ministerial meeting held in Derby in March 2005. The Ministers agreed on a statement to forward to the G8 Summit that included support to timber producing country efforts to tackle illegal logging, steps to halt imports of illegal timber, adoption of public procurement policies, encouragement of the private sector to take action and work with civil society to improve information to consumers (More…). The Ministerial statement was endorsed at the G8 Gleneagles Summit in July 2005.
· In a joint statement on 5 September 2005, Prime Minister Tony Blair (as EU President), EC President, José Manuel Barroso, Secretary General EU Council, High Representative for the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, Mr. Javier Solana, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the EU and China pledged to work together to tackle the problem of illegal logging in the Asian region.
· In October 2005, Defra Minister Elliott Morley gave evidence to a sub-committee of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), set up to conduct an inquiry into sustainable timber. The Committee’s report, “Buying time for forests: the way forward” was released on 19 January, 2006.
· DFID Ministers Hilary Benn and Gareth Thomas, respectively, represented the UK in concluding the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) declarations for East Asia and the Pacific in 2001, Africa in 2003 and Europe and North Asia in 2005.
· In 2002, DFID and DEFRA Ministers Hilary Benn and Michael Meacher signed on behalf of the UK the Memorandum of Understanding on Illegal Logging with Indonesia.
· A speech by DFID Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, at a conference on Environment, Development and Sustainable Peace, noted the role of forests in conflict and described impacts of DFID work in Indonesia.
· DFID and DEFRA ministers hold regular briefings for civil society and the timber industry about the UK’s policy related to illegal logging.
· A joint statement on 19 July 2003 by the Prime Ministers of Japan and the United Kingdom on Tackling Environmental Challenges Together identifies illegal logging as one area of cooperation.
· DFID Secretary of State Hilary Benn noted the need for both China and the UK to cooperate on tackling illegal logging in a speech at Fudan University, Shanghai, 25 May 2004
· A joint letter  from DEFRA Minister Elliot Morley and DFID Minister Gareth Thomas responding to an article on alleged shipments of illegal plywood to the UK appeared in the Guardian newspaper on March 20 2004.	�Top ƒOverview
Active involvement of industry
· DFID staff member, Andy Roby, was seconded to work with the UK Timber Trade Federation (TTF) as Corporate Social Responsibility Officer in September 2002. He has since joined TTF’s permanent staff. Initiatives have included: - Adoption of a Responsible Purchasing Policy, which requires members that adopt it to commit to purchase all timber from legal sources and seek evidence of compliance - A study of corporate social responsibility in the timber industry completed in March 2005. More details  can be found on TTF’s website. - Discussions with the Japan Federation of Wood Industry Associations on possible trade initiatives - Co-ordination of the trade’s contribution to the Indonesia-UK MoU, including a multi-stakeholder workshop held in June 2003, followed by preparation and implementation of a Ten-Point Action Plan, which included a Scoping Study on Sourcing Legal Timber from Indonesia - Co-ordination of the Timber Trade Action Plan (TTAP) a pan-EU timber trade association approach, supported by an EC grant, to sourcing legal timber This support has now been extended into a two-year framework agreement that includes a consultancy to track timber product prices to detect differentials for verified legal and sustainable timber. One important aspect of this work is tracking changes in the market as a result of increased demands for legal and sustainable timber. Reports are produced every six months (More…).
· The Forests Dialogue organised a conference of senior representatives of Asian forest industry, governments and civil society in Hong Kong in March 2005. The participants agreed to: - collaborate to strengthen important existing alliances to combat illegal logging; - develop agreed, auditable, practical national legality standards; - create a simple, credible, independent and objective ratings system to identify high-risk countries and tree species; and - encourage companies to use innovative technology for wood tracking and share best practices to improve their supply chain management. · The Forests Dialogue undertook to send a delegation of business and civil society leaders to meet with Ministers and other top officials in key capitals in Asia, Europe and beyond to share the results of the meeting and urge concerted effort to tackle the problem.
· The Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT) at the University of Wolverhampton, in partnership with Television Trust for the Environment, has prepared a video in several languages on what companies can do to benefit from procurement policies that specify legal timber.
Effective communications with stakeholders and wider public
· The Illegal Logging website (www.illegal-logging.info), managed by RIIA, provides a central point for information on illegal logging and trade in illegal timber. It contains summaries and commentaries on the issues and latest developments, up-to-date news, downloadable documents about current research topics, and links to other relevant websites.
· Illegal Logging and Legal Timber Procurement are agenda items for the UK Forest Partnership for Action, a forum for government, business and environmental groups to promote sustainable forest development.
· RIIA organises six-monthly consultations with UK civil society at which a wide range of current topics are discussed. The next is planned for January 2006. Records of these meetings are posted on the Illegal Logging website.	�Top ƒOverview
Last updated 16 May 2006