4 Nov. 2021 – FAO teams; the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme, led by Bruno Cammaert, and the Sustainable Forest Trade in the Lower Mekong Region (SFT-LMR) led by Mathieu Van Rijn, met with Surachai A-Cha-La-Boon, Director-General of the Royal Forest Department, to congratulate him for his appointment and discuss the programs’ works, achievements, and plans.

The FAO-EU FLEGT Programme has since 2016 provided support of over 27.8 million USD to 342 projects in 27 VPA and non-VPA countries, with 50 million THB gone to support 21 projects in Thailand. This support has resulted in significant progress in the Thailand-EU FLEGT-VPA process; achieving a strong multi-stakeholder participatory process with an emphasis on civil society; three successful negotiations which led to the conclusion of 3 VPA Annexes; the implementation of self-declaration; and contributing to the development of technological tools for timber verification, such as a mobile application for field verification and software for tracing rubberwood’s origins.

This meeting reaffirmed the importance of collaboration in tackling deforestation between RFD and FAO. To continue the cooperation on forestry governance and sustainable and legal timber trade, many prospects are being considered.