Summary
• Ghana is expected to sign a FLEGT licence agreement by April.
• FLEGT negotiations are under way in several countries.
• There is some confusion over legality and certification.
• TTAP workshops will be held in China next year.
Travelling to Brazil, China, Liberia and Malaysia this year gave me a good opportunity to find out what tropical producer countries think of our requirements for legal wood products as a minimum, as well as their reaction to FLEGT. While the TTF and most organisations in Europe, particularly northern Europe, are keen to support FLEGT, the understanding of the issues and support of the process varies in other countries. The reactions I’ve had around the world when discussing our requirements for legal timber vary from vigorous support to confusion through to irritation and refusal to consider illegal timber a problem.
A key tenet of TTF’s approach is to provide tools and technical assistance to tropical producers through the EU-funded Timber Trade Action Plan (TTAP). We also provide tools for our members through the TTF Responsible Purchasing Policy. In this way, we aim to work closely with buyers and producers to help them purchase and sell wood products responsibly.
The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) is beginning to move apace, with Ghana expecting to be the first to sign a licence agreement by April. FLEGT negotiations have started in Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana and Cameroon; Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and Liberia are also considering starting negotiations.
TTF strongly supports the FLEGT process although we feel that the government should continue to accept material from individual suppliers backed by proof of legality.
In September I attended a FLEGT workshop in China and participated in an international trade event. It would be encouraging if, in the future, the Chinese government were able to accept FLEGT imported licensed timber.
Although the audience for the two events was very different, the level of confusion over legality and certification was the same. I typically found that whenever legality was mentioned, Chinese traders and other stakeholders thought that I really meant certification. I was encouraged to find that once I had explained what legality meant in practice, the reception was generally good. There seems to be a clear demand for the TTAP in China which we hope will develop further with the business-to-business workshops we will hold in China in April.
However, it is worth acknowledging that there is still a strong feeling amongst many in the Chinese timber trade that they should not be held accountable for buying illegal or ‘smuggled’ timber products.
At the request of DFID, I visited Liberia in June to present the UK and EU market position at a FLEGT workshop. It was well attended by the private sector and the multi-stakeholder workshop participants unanimously agreed to support the FLEGT process and to consider FSC. However, the initial energy for FLEGT shown at the workshop has not translated into action yet.
The situation in Liberia is difficult and discussions with the logging industry association showed that the main concern was how to competitively bid for forest concessions. It has taken a strong line with regard to legal, environmental and social responsibilities as part of the concession granting system. Hopefully this will be translated into action when the concessions are granted.
In July I joined the Malaysian Timber Council on their annual familiarisation trip to Malaysia. This focused on the Peninsula, where the majority of mills have signed up to the MTCC and/or FSC,although they have difficulty sourcing certified timber.
Knowing that Malaysia is negotiating the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement as well as the fact that TTAP is going well, it was notable that the issues of legality and certification are well known. However, the positions of the Peninsula and Sarawak are different when it comes to FLEGT. As an example, the Sarawak Timber Association explained that while it was not opposed to the FLEGT process, it felt there were many issues to deliberate before Malaysia as a whole could sign up.
In Brazil, as part of the ATIBT forum in Belem, I presented the UK view of legality and market requirements to whole supply chains as there was a good representation of attendees from Africa, Brazil and Europe. TTAP was launched at this forum so it is too early to comment on its progress but there was interest in the approach.
Some companies had already done a lot of work on legality and certification and have been trading with Europe for some time. In contrast there was a wider view that was confused between legality and certification and felt that agricultural deforestation was a more urgent issue.
Each country had its own views and circumstances. However, there was a powerful minority and sometimes a majority view in every country that legally verified timber was the best route. I’m hopeful that this will continue to gain pace so that legal, and better still, sustainable timber will become the accepted way to trade.
Liz Betser would like to acknowledge the contribution of DFID, EU?and MTC to the activities discussed in this article.
Useful websites
TTFs Responsible Purchasing Policy
Issues and documents on illegal logging
A TTF-sponsored report on the market for legal and sustainable timber
EU-China FLEG workshop papers
