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
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