EU and partner countries must protect gains in legal timber trade during COVID-19 (commentary)

Research in Cameroon, Ghana and Indonesia, funded by the EU-FAO-FLEGT Program and undertaken by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and Analysis for Economic Decisions (ADE) shows that the VPA processes in these countries contributed to decreasing illegal logging rates, particularly illegal industrial timber destined for export markets.

VPAs also improved the implementation and verification of forest management plans; increased local communities and indigenous people’s participation in decision making; and encouraged small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to work in a more coordinated manner. More coherent, and better enforced, legal frameworks also resulted from VPAs’ negotiations and implementation, while civil society grew stronger and better able to hold governments to account.