Search

Forests, and particularly tropical forests, play a major role for livelihoods as resource and as safety nets for some of the most vulnerable population, for the economy of developing countries, but also in terms of biodiversity. Their role in terms of climate change adaptation and mitigation, has been recently outlined in the context of the UNFCCC, with the ongoing discussions on REDD (Reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation). In that global context, fight against illegal logging and governance issues remain one of the top priorities of the European Union, and can clearly contribute to address some of the above-mentioned challenges. The EU Action Plan for Forest law enforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT) has been adopted in 2003. It sets out measures to improve forest sector governance, combat illegal logging and curb the related trade in illegally harvested timber. Among the major elements of the Action Plan are the establishment of Voluntary Partnership Agreements and the EU timber regulation. European Commission and Member States have funded a number of projects on FLEGT, implemented by private sector federations, civil society organisations, Non Governmental Organisations, International Organisations and partner countries agencies. Objective The objective of the meeting is twofold: (1) to exchange information about the situation with regard to FLEGT Action Plan implementation, particularly VPA developments and the EU Timber regulation; (2) to share lessons from FLEGT related projects, and see how project experience can feed into policy development and strategic thinking. These three days provide a great opportunity to learn from these projects their deliverables, their challenges in implementation and their contributions to our policies. Coordination between EU staff and project partners that takes place during those days improves daily work and efficiency in policy implementation and project management, both at country level and ant a global level.