world news - 01.08.2003
Russian Far East works to improve system of timber supply and control
The World Bank estimates that developing countries lose US$10-15 billion annually due to illegal logging. Last May, the European Commission (EC) proposed an action plan to improve forest legislation and forest management and trade, which includes a system of measures against illegal logging and trade of illegal timber. The action plan includes the following measures:
• Help partner-countries to create a system that would guarantee legal origin of timber
• Initiate creation in partner-countries systems of licensing that would include use of certificates that prove legal origin of timber that is being exported to EC
• Develop a policy of buying that would serve as an action plan for determination of timber trade compliance with laws
• Stop investing in activities supporting illegal timber
• Support private initiatives of national forestry development, including following volunteer code of buying only legal timber
• Solve problems related to use of the profits from illegal logging for financing and prolonging armed conflicts.
WWF fully supports the EC initiative to combat illegal logging. WWF has been working with timber companies for many years on the development of sustainable forestry and volunteer forest certification. A programme of sustainable forestry in the Russian Far East is being developed as part of the ecological policy of the Teneiles company and collaboration of WWF and PALEX Association. One of the stages of the programme is improving the system of timber export to comply with international requirements of the Chain of Custody (CoC), which would prohibit the use of illegal timber that is harvested in violation of traditions and customs of local populations, violation of human rights, or from Forests of High Conservation Value. Introduction of the system of CoC timber control is a necessary condition for volunteer forest certification, provision of timber trade clarity, and attraction of investments.
Vladivostok, Russia — As illegal logging and trade lead to decreasing forest cover and biodiversity, as well as much corruption in most forest-rich countries, the WWF Russian Far East Forest Programme recently completed a workshop on the improvement of the system of timber origin supply and control to comply with international standards. Participants included specialists of the Independent Expert Company (NEC) and Swedish company HAGLOF, which is engaged in issues of markup and counting of production in timber harvest, storage, and transportation.
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