FLEGT case study in Indonesia / Evaluation of the Visibility of EU external action / Thematic Report on Environment, Biodiversity and Deforestation

The proposed  case study is the programme “Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT)” a EU-led global initiative to fight illegal logging in developing countries. It represents a joint commitment from the EU and developing countries and is based on Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA), a legally-binding instrument between partner countries and the EU which support trade in legal timber that is produced according to standards of legality defined through a multi-stakeholder dialogue and subject of independent audit. FLEGT involves stakeholders in the forest and timber value chain in the country of origin and in the market destinations, promoting shared responsibility between suppliers and buyers. A budget line for FLEGT is included in ENRTP. In the 2009 ENRTP Review, the FLEGT sub-programme was positively assessed in terms of communication and dissemination, as regular contacts are kept with the beneficiaries and yearly meetings are held in Brussels bringing together EC representatives and project stakeholders to exchange experiences and lessons learnt and further disseminate the best practices. In addition, 2011 is the International Year of Forests and this represented an opportunity for raising awareness on Forest-related initiatives world-wide.
The selection of the country for the field phase fell on Indonesia for the following reasons:
- The importance of forests in the country, their crucial contribution to natural heritage and to
socio-economic development and the increasing threats they are facing (deforestation,
biodiversity loss, illegal logging and forest-related crimes).
- The EU support to the environmental and forestry sector has been consistent and
continuous in this country since 1980 as indicated in the EU Country Strategy Paper (CSP)
representing one third of EU cooperation financial envelope.
- FLEGT negotiation with Indonesia started in 2007 and was concluded on May 4th
2011 with
the signature of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), facilitating the visibility
assessment among Indonesian-based stakeholders.
- Indonesia benefitted from ENRTP funding up to M€ 43 in the period 2006-2011 for national
and regional programmes in forestry management, FLEGT, REDD+, Climate Change,
Biodiversity and natural resources management.
- The possibility to assess EU visibility in other complementary sectors where the EU is a lead
partner such as governance, education, regional integration and trade, conflict resolution and
post-disaster rehabilitation.
The country visit to Indonesia took place from June 25th to July 4th 2011.

Full report on: http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/public-design_monitoring_evaluation/event/seminar-evaluation-visibility-eu-external-action