EU bids to cut down illegal timber trade

EU bids to cut down illegal timber trade

Robin Pomeroy, Reuters, Brussels

The European Union is to urge timber exporting countries to
certify their wood does not come from illegal logging which is
ravaging the world's priceless rainforests.

The European Commission is to launch a voluntary timber
certification system that might lead to a global agreement to
clean up the US$150 billion global forest product trade,
according to a draft proposal obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

Under the scheme, once a country or regional bloc has signed
up to a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)
agreement, the EU will refuse to accept imported timber from that
state unless it is certified as legal.

The exporter country would benefit from a more credible image
and increase tax revenues from valuable timber that might
otherwise be smuggled onto the world's markets, the text says.

"In some forest-rich countries, the corruption fueled by
profits from illegal logging has grown to such an extent that it
is undermining the rule of law, principles of democratic
government and respect for human rights," the Commission says in
its proposal due to be published on Wednesday.

"Measures can be taken by the EU and other major consumers of
timber products to direct demand towards only legally harvested
timber," it says.

The scheme could lead to a global agreement on forest trading,
it adds.

The London-based campaign group, Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA), reckons up to half of the EU's tropical timber
imports is illegal at source.

Countries whose environments and economies suffer include
Indonesia, whose tropical forests are home to endangered species
like orangutans.

More than 70 percent of Indonesian log production comes from
illegal sources, the EIA estimates.

The EU's proposal will target southeast Asia, south America,
central Africa and Russia.

The European Union would help less developed countries improve
their judiciary, police and military to help stop illegal
logging.

The World Bank estimates exporter countries lose between $10
billion and $15 billion a year in lost taxes, a fraction of which
would be needed to create a certification scheme, the
Commission's proposal says.