Illegale Holzschlägerungen

A just-concluded forestry stakeholders’ workshop on the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Programme is a signal of Guyana’s willingness to boost its “outstanding track record” in forestry management, according to Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud.

Stepping up its fight against illegal logging, the government began the implementation early this month of a ban on exports of illegally harvested wood and wood products.

The government made it mandatory for forestry companies to obtain official certificates to show that timber has been legally sourced without damaging forests. The policy has been deemed necessary since according to official statistics illegal logging activities have been destroying more than 1 million hectares of forests each year.

The World Bank, PROFOR and FAO are organizing an international symposium on indicators to assess and monitor the quality of forest governance. The symposium will take stock of progress to date in designing indicators and applying them in the field, including the use of indicators for specific purposes.

The European Parliament has voted in favour of legislation banning illegally logged timber imports into the European Union. The new legislation bans illegally-harvested timber or timber products from being placed on the EU market. This will prevent such wood from effectively being laundered once it reaches the EU. Currently, at least 20% of timber and timber products reaching the EU market is estimated to come from illegal sources.