European Commission Moves to Stem Illegal Logging

BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 21, 2004 (ENS) - The European Commission has adopted a new set of measures to combat the growing problem of illegal logging and the related trade in illegally harvested timber that are to blame for vast environmental damage in developing and transition countries.

Announcing the new program on Tuesday, Poul Nielson, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, said, "All major wood importing countries have to recognize the vital role they must play in closing down the international trade in illegal timber. Today we are showing the way. I strongly encourage others to join our ranks."

European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Poul Nielson (Photo courtesy European Commission)

Second, The Commission will write a regulation that sets up a legally binding licensing scheme with partner countries to ensure that only legal timber from these countries is allowed into the European Union.

The package is based on an innovative approach that links the push for good governance in developing countries with the legal instruments and leverage offered by the EU's internal market.

Commenting on the voluntary agreements that are at the core of the proposed package, Nielson said, "Only by working in close partnership with wood producing countries can we hope to have a real impact. The partnership agreements provide producing countries with the incentives and support required for them to play a leading role in the fight against illegal logging."

Illegally cut logs are sawn into illicit lumber (Photo courtesy CIFOR)

European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said, "Combating illegal logging and related trade is something we committed ourselves to at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Today's measures show that we are determined to deliver on our commitments."

The new European measures dovetail with the approach outlined on Tuesday by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) which opened its annual meeting in Interlaken, Switzerland on Tuesday.

Jan McAlpine, who chairs the International Tropical Timber Council, the ITTO’s governing body, said that positive support from importing countries and consumers of forest products from sustainably managed tropical forests can improve the sustainable management of those critical forests and help reduce deforestation.

"We are very concerned about the loss of natural tropical forests, the poverty of many people living in or near such forests and the threat of extinction of the wildlife in them," McAlpine said. But she stressed that "negative campaigns targeting tropical timber may instead undermine long term sustainability and not achieve their intended objectives."

Jan McAlpine is chair of the International Tropical Timber Organization, an intergovernmental forest industry organization. (Photo courtesy ENB)

"ITTO was one of the first international organizations to address the important issue of illegally harvested timber and has several projects addressing this issue," said McAlpine.

"It is important for people who use tropical timber products to understand that restrictions on tropical timber trade actually discourage efforts to promote sustainable forest management," she said. "Unless natural forests are able to generate significant revenue for their owners and residents, they will be replaced by other land uses, such as the cultivation of soybeans, oil palm and other crops."

The European Commission's new measures to combat illegal logging follow the executive's long standing commitment to the sustainable management and conservation of the world’s remaining forests. Over the past decade the EC has provided more than €650 million (US$798 million) to support forest conservation and sustainable management in Asia, Central Africa and South America.

"We want to promote honest logging as an important contribution to the social and economic development of our partner countries," Nielson said. "And we want to protect our own consumers. Ultimately the European consumer should be able to by garden furniture with a clear conscience."