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.