Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan

Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan

Description

The EU published the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan in 2003. The Action Plan sets out a range of measures available to the EU and its member states to tackle illegal logging in the world's forests.

The Action Plan sets out measures to:

  • prevent the import of illegal timber into the EU
  • improve the supply of legal timber
  • increase demand for timber from responsibly managed forests

The Action Plan's long-term aim is sustainable forest management. It focuses on seven broad areas:

  • supporting timber-producing countries, including promoting fair solutions to the illegal logging problem
  • promoting trade in legal timber, including developing and implementing VPAs between the EU and timber-producing countries
  • promoting public procurement policies, including guidance on how to deal with legality when specifying timber in procurement procedures
  • supporting private sector initiatives, including encouraging voluntary codes of conduct for private companies sourcing timber
  • safeguarding financing and investment, including encouraging financial institutions investing in the forest sector to develop due care procedures
  • using existing or new legislation to support the Action Plan, including the EU Timber Regulation
  • addressing the problem of conflict timber, including supporting the development of an international definition of conflict timber

Source: 

http://www.euflegt.efi.int/flegt-action-plan