A raft of measures to combat imports of illegal timber has been put together by FERN (Forests and the European Union Resource Network) and the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Their report – Controlling imports of illegal timber: Options for Europe – provides governments and the European Commission, banks and industry with detailed information to halt the illegal import of timber into the EU.
Saskia Ozinga of FERN and co-author of the report said: “Illegal logging is happening on a vast scale but everyone has turned a blind eye to how demand is created. Now the mood is changing. Controlling imports of illegal logs into Europe will stop us colluding in a trade that is decimating the world’s forests.”
Measures proposed include new EU legislation to halt the import of illegal timber; bilateral agreements between producer countries and the EU to promote legal timber trade; support for producer countries in developing licensing systems; improved regulation of forestry industry finances; and wider application of money-laundering legislation.
The report says the UK government’s Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia could be a blueprint for EU bilateral agreements.
The report and summary are available at www.fern.org.
