Representatives of the European Union (EU) and ASEAN member states will gather in Chiang Mai from 3-5 July to share progress under national and regional efforts to tackle illegal logging and its associated trade.
The meeting will focus in part on national efforts to assure the legality of timber products, including through Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with the EU, under the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. Participants will present progress in VPA partner countries and share experiences to foster learning on timber legality assurance among countries.
Participants include government, industry and civil society representatives from ASEAN member states: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Representatives of the Chinese government, and private sector also attend.
Globally, Indonesia is the first country in the world to issue FLEGT licences to verified legal timber products. Four other countries (including Thailand) in ASEAN are at different stages of FLEGT VPA negotiations. In Thailand, the VPA process started in late 2013. After preparatory technical work, the first official negotiations between Thailand and the EU took place in June 2017. A second negotiation will take place later this month.
“After we started the VPA process, Thailand has a significant improvement on participatory process, the first thing we can see was an improve communication channel among relevant stakeholders. Moreover, the high level of Thailand is paying attention to the process with a great support. You might see from the legal reform process in Thailand which is a good example. ” Said Mr. Pralong Damrongthai, Inspector-General of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE).
At the workhop in Chiang Mai, participants will be updated on the EU FLEGT Action Plan and other EU policies. The Workplan for Forest Law Enforcement and Governance in ASEAN (2016-2025), which the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry adopted in 2016, will also be discussed along with other initiatives such as a Regional Voluntary Code of Conduct for Forest and Timber Companies in ASEAN. As ASEAN Member States are committed to combating illegal logging and the trade in illegally logged timber through improving forest law enforcement and governance, one facet to be taken into account during the discussions will be the timber imports from within and outside the region.
“The EU is working bilaterally with most ASEAN member states on FLEGT” said Mr Michael Bucki, Climate Change & Environment Counsellor. “We welcome the important role ASEAN is playing in promoting regional cooperation to combat illegal logging and associated trade and especially in committing to a 10-year workplan that would take ASEAN forward in this global effort.”
Other topics under discussion include the challenges faced by small and micro forest enterprises in the Mekong region in legal timber trade, participation of civil society and private sector in timber legality assurance systems, timber legality and forest conversion and possible priorities for future FLEGT support in the region by the EU.
