The first issuance of a FLEGT licence represents a significant milestone in the EU FLEGT Action plan and is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from a variety of stakeholders, ranging from the FLEGT facilitators, the EU commission, civil society and finally the partner countries.
Indonesia should be commended for being the first country to achieve full licensing and should be supported by all stakeholders in these early stages of implementation.
We are now entering a new phase, with licences being issued.
In this post-licensing phase it is incredibly important that demand side trade is engaged in future dialogue and has a more proactive and prominent voice notably on a b2b and policy level.
The TTF and the UK timber trade will continue to support the entire FLEGT process, to ensure demand side interactions become a more consistent feature of future negotiations and work streams.
The success or otherwise of FLEGT will be measured in many different ways.
However, in the short term it represents a governmental, policy-led initiative to tackle deforestation and problematic supply chains, which represents a significant and positive step forward which Indonesia should celebrate.
