Around 50 key stakeholders from government, private and civil society organisations yesterday discussed the draft Timber Legality Definition with Principles, the first draft of the timber legality definition of Laos that will be used for the first face to face negotiation on the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade/Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT/VPA) with the European Union (EU).

“Having a concrete definition on what is legal timber is crucial for Laos as it acts as an ‘entry ticket’ to generate new export opportunities in the ASEAN Economic Community and other export markets such as Europe, the U.S., China, Australia, Japan and the Republic of Korea, requesting legally verified timber,” Director General of the Industry and Handicraft Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Manohack Rasachack said at a Technical Working Group Meeting.

“Once legal timber is defined, the next milestones are to enhance the competitiveness of the Lao timber industry through the improvement of raw material supply, qualify staff and workers in the wood processing industry and sector associations, and improve access to markets and product information for each individual company,” he added.

A well-defined description of what legal timber is will generate advantages for a series of stakeholders, ranking from local communities to the private sector and related government agencies, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Forest-dependent communities in Laos will be able to maintain their livelihoods in a sustainable way as they will be able to exercise their rights to access resources in areas as allowed and managed by the government.

Company owners, especially in timber processing, furniture and handicraft industries, will be able to plan their operations more effectively due to having a more regulated and sustainable supply of raw materials.

“Definitions of legally-produced timber should incorporate laws applicable to not only a country’s forestry sector, but also other relevant areas, namely industry and commerce, and import and export,” said Senior International Adviser to the German Development Cooperation’s project, Mr Heiko Woerner adding that conducting wide consultations with all interested parties will ensure that the different stakeholders jointly benefit from legal trade in wood products.

During the two-day meeting, participants also had a chance to discuss the scope of the FLEGT/VPA negotiation regarding products, market destinations and timber sources, with the study results of the supply chain control and verification procedures in natural production forests presented.

As a part of the Action Plan on FLEGT to combat illegal logging globally, the EU is finalizing its Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with timber producing countries.

A VPA is an international trade agreement to reduce illegal wood harvesting and promote legal timber trade.

Source:
courtesy of KPL NEWS AGENCY

by KPL

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