AFP to use timber tracking system
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Top government officials and environmentalists, grouped in the Asia Forest Partnership (AFP), agreed on Wednesday that timber producing and consuming countries need to boost cooperation in fighting illegal timber trading.
At the end of their three-day workshop, the AFP members agreed on several recommendations, including the one calling for producing and consuming nations in Asia to set up a synchronized customs system enabling them to track the legality of timber products.
The tracking system is pivotal in the fight against illegal timber trading, participants said.
"At present timber importing countries have difficulties determining the legality of forest products. A timber tracking system is expected to help them identify and reject illegal forest products," Amha Bin Buang, an executive at the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), told The Jakarta Post after the workshop.
Buang said that a tracking system would force timber-producing countries to apply a certification system on their forest products.
The certification system will enable people to identify products that are taken from well-managed forests. People are also expected to buy certified products to support sustainable forest management.
Indonesian Ministry of Forestry's Director General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, Koes Saparjadi, said forest certification was one of the most contentious issues in the forestry industry as some producers considered it another cost that would reduce their competitiveness.
"Tropical timber producers are concerned about difficulties in getting certification and the expected increase in production costs. It needs great effort for timber-producing countries to apply the system," he said, adding that higher level governmental officials will discuss further the application of the certification system.
Aside from calling for a synchronized customs system, the workshop also called on key enforcement agencies to implement "on-the-ground coordination" at some priority smuggling and illegal logging centers, such as those in the border areas of Indonesia and Malaysia.
The recommendations agreed upon during the workshop in Yogyakarta will be brought up at the fourth AFP meeting in Japan from Dec. 8 until Dec. 10.
The AFP was launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. It is one of over 200 partnerships for sustainable development registered with the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development.
Partners of the AFP include governments, intergovernmental organizations and members of civil society.