hm - June11 - cover.indd - National Hardwood Lumber Association

GLOBAL TALK
THE EUROPEAN UNION AND INDONESIA AGREE TO END TRADE OF ILLEGAL TIMBER
Indonesia and the European Union, one of its big log importers, have tentatively agreed on a pact aimed at stopping the flow of illegal
timber. The so-called Voluntary Partnership Agreement is expected to be signed by both sides in October, said Agus Sarsito, head of
international cooperation at forestry ministry. Indonesia’s president and EU lawmakers will have to approve it.
The pact with Indonesia, the world’s thirdlargest
tropical forest nation, is the most
ambitious of the EU’s bilateral pacts in
protecting tropical forests. The EU is a key
market for forest products from Indonesia,
with an average value of timber and paper
exports of $1.2 billion a year.
According to Sarsito, the EU absorbs about
33 percent of Indonesia’s timber exports,
while most of the rest go to the United
States and Japan. According to the European
Forest Institute, illegally harvested timber
represented about 50 percent of timber
exported from Indonesia and 20 percent of
timber products imported into the EU.
EU-LIBERIA SIGN VOLUNTARY PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT
Liberia signed a deal with the European Union on May 9, 2011 promising to crack down on illegal logging
on its territory, home to more than half of West Africa’s rainforests, a group linked to the accord said.
Ghana, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed similar deals last year ahead of an EU
ban on imports of illegally harvested timber that takes effect in 2012.
24 JUNE 2011 HARDWOOD MATTERS WWW.NHLA.COM