Policy recommendations

  • The European Commission should adopt legislation which requires that only legally-harvested timber and timber products coming from legal sources and responsibly-managed forests be placed on the European market. Legislation should be cost-effective, fair and enforceable and should include sanctions. The primary responsibility for proving legality should rest with all companies that are importing or selling products in the EU, thus creating a level playing field and being WTO-compatible.
  • The European Commission should strengthen the FLEGT-process of supporting wood producing countries to improve forest law enforcement, tackle corruption and promote socially and environmentally responsible forest management.
  • The EU should enlarge the number of Voluntary Partnership Agreements with producing countries. A participatory multi-stakeholder process, including local communities and indigenous peoples, should be at the core of these VPAs.
  • The EU should broaden the range of products covered by VPAs to cover all timber products. 
  • The EU Member States should speed up the implementation of sustainable public procurement for wood products including social and environmental criteria. 
  • The European Commission should endeavour to bring best practices in EU countries together and give clear guidance to Member States on how they can implement sustainable procurement by developing guidelines and tools to include social and environmental criteria in public procurement.

Case: Illegal Logging

24-01-2011 MEPs worry about implementation of FLEGT

The European Parliament has been discussing two new Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with Cameroon and the Congo Brazzaville under the Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. MEPs Yannick Jadot on behalf of Greens/EFA, Catherine Bearder on behalf of ALDE, David Martin on behalf of S&D, Joe Higgins on behalf of GUE/NGL, and Daniel Caspary on behalf of EPP have expressed concerns about the implementation of the FLEGT. Also they wonder how the Commission is going to ensure the rights of local populations and how the EU is going to finance these schemes in the upcoming year. Lastly the MEPs want to know if the Commission will create more legislation to end deforestation.

Fair Politics agrees with the MEPs that the implementation of the FLEGT is going to be crucial for its success. The Ghana Impact Study which Fair Politics presented in May 2010, concluded that on paper the VPA in Ghana was sound, yet in reality there were still problems for both the local communities and local industries. The VPA did not stop illegal logging, because there remained contesting claims on woodlands. Also local industries felt competition from countries without a VPA. In 2013 the EU is going to prohibit the import of illegal wood, this will increase the level playing field for countries with a VPA competing with countries without one. Fair Politics is currently updating the illegal logging case. The update will be published soon.

For raising concerns about the implementation of FLEGT, MEPs Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA), Catherine Bearder (ALDE), David Martin (S&D), Joe Higgins (GUE/NGL), and Daniel Caspary (EPP) are recognised as Fair Policians. They each earn one point in our monitoring system.

Monitor fair: Greens/EFA, ALDE, S&D, GUE/NGL, EPP

Parliamentary questions
O-0202/2010
2 December 2010
ORAL QUESTION, by Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA), Catherine Bearder (ALDE), David Martin (S&D), Joe Higgins (GUE/NGL), and Daniel Caspary (EPP) 

Subject: FLEGT voluntary partnership agreements with Congo and Cameroon and other planned VPAs.
Several countries that export tropical hardwood have started to sign voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs) with the EU under the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. Through these agreements, the EU will provide support for forest governance reforms and capacity building, including the implementation of traceability and legality verification systems for timber and wood-based products. Parliament has to give its formal assent to two VPAs, with Cameroon and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville).
All current and future VPAs should contribute to protecting intact forest landscapes, putting the forestry sector on an environmentally and socially sustainable course and implementing a much-needed reform process.
- What mechanism will be established to ensure that the VPAs are stringently and effectively enforced in a timely manner throughout the various stages of their implementation? Will the Commission produce, and present to Parliament, regular progress reports on implementation of the various provisions of all current and future agreements?
- How will the Commission ensure that civil society, local populations and indigenous peoples are able to contribute freely and confidently to the implementation and enforcement of the VPAs and have access to rights of appeal and complaint? Has the Commission carried out an independent evaluation of the current human rights situation and of protection of the right to freedom of speech in countries concerned by VPAs? If not, is the Commission committed to carrying out independent reliable assessments of human rights standards in any country concerned by VPAs?
- Given the fact that VPAs have direct financial impact on the EU budget and that more VPAs are expected to be signed in the coming years, what specific and additional funding do the Commission and the Member States intend to mobilise for financial, technical, and human resources to support the negotiation and implementation of these agreements?
- What new initiatives, in addition to VPAs, does the Commission envisage for combating large-scale deforestation and the degradation of natural forests, and for promoting their protection?