The Australian Government will intensify its efforts to combat illegal logging, providing $8 million to promote timber legality verification in the Asia-Pacific region through the Illegal logging: Regional Capacity Building Partnership. Source: Timberbiz
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, said the International Tropical Timber Organisation and The Nature Conservancy will receive $2 million and $6 million respectively for projects to help ensure timber is legally logged.
The partnership builds upon the passage of the Illegal Logging legislation through the Australian Parliament in November.
“We are committed to working with our trading partners to combat the trade of illegally harvested timber,” Minister Ludwig said. “The trade is undertaken by criminal networks and has dangerous social, environmental and economic impacts.”
Illegal logging is estimated to cost $60 billion globally each year. According to the World Bank, every two seconds an area the size of a football field is harvested illegally.
Up to 9% of Australia’s timber and timber product imports could be from an illegal source, worth an estimated $400 million. The illegal trade frequently undercuts regulated timber industries around the world, which also undermines Australian jobs.
Parliamentary Secretary Sid Sidebottom said the Regional Capacity Building Partnership will support engagement with government and industry on timber legality verification systems, and provide technical support on high conservation value forest management and reduced impact logging to forest managers.
“This investment will help our trading partners demonstrate legality and complement similar outreach activities being conducted by the EU and the United States,” said Sidebottom.
“The benefit will ultimately flow back to Australian timber importing businesses who will find that better supplier information about timber legality will help with due diligence obligations, due to commence in late 2014.”
Funding will support the ITTO’s Thematic Programme on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade and the Nature Conservancy’s Regional Asia Forest Landscapes and Trade program.
“Projects will focus on forest management, harvesting, processing and exporting, as well as government and industry regulatory systems,” Minister Ludwig said.
“This will contribute to supporting the sustainability of forestry in Asia-Pacific countries and will strengthen the trade in legally sourced timber.”
At the 2011 Honolulu APEC Leaders Summit, participating leaders declared that they would “work to implement appropriate measures to prohibit trade in illegally harvested forest products and undertake additional activities in APEC to combat illegal logging and associated trade”.
The funding forms part of the $273 million International Forest Carbon Initiative, which aims to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.
