PRO-FORMAL: Policy and regulatory options to recognise and better integrate the domestic timber sector in tropical countries

The project's objective was to foster legality, livelihood security and improved forest management in the domestic timber sector of selected tropical forest countries, in particular in countries negotiating or implementing Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade process (FLEGT) and Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). The project aimed to analyse which policy measures could improve the EU-FLEGT chances of success in better integrating the domestic timber markets within the national legal framework. In five selected countries, the project initially assessed different facets of the overall timber sector, be they legal or illegal, formal or informal, regulated or unregulated and small-scale or large-scale. Assessed the interplay among these facets. Further, the project intended to understand the social dynamics within the timber sector of selected countries, as well as the impacts that improved policies might have on domestic timber markets and the livelihood options they provided.