The broad range of delegates to the UK Forest Partnership for Action’s first conference, held in London on December 9, was indicative of the complexity of the challenges facing the forest products sector, according to keynote speaker Bill Rammell, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office, with responsibility for the environment.
Focusing on illegal logging, Mr Rammell said its repercussions were many, including human rights issues, significant loss of taxes (in excess of US$10bn a year, according to the World Bank) and the funding of conflict in unstable regimes.
Reminding delegates of the prime minister’s November 5 statement, in which he reaffirmed the government’s commitment to stamp out illegal logging, Mr Rammell said: “These problems aren’t country specific and we can’t address these major challenges within a vacuum. We can only succeed by creating genuine sustainable partnerships. The UK Forest Partnership for Action is an exciting example of this.”
Another positive move was the establishment of the Central Point of Expertise for Timber Procurement, which has just been given the go-ahead. But, he added: “This is new. If we get it wrong I would urge the NGOs to engage with us and make the process work, rather than stand on the sidelines and criticise”.
BLOB The UK Forest Partnership for Action was originally a short-term initiative to advise the prime minister on forestry issues in the run-up to the Johannesburg World Summit. Now a permanent organisation, partners include representatives from the UK’s forest and timber industries such as the Timber Trade Federation and the Forest Industries Development Council, environmental groups such as the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the government.
A full report will appear in a forthcoming issue of TTJ .
