Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 16 • 22nd September 2006

G8 Illegal Logging Dialogue Launched

Discuss this articleShare your views with other visitors, and read what they have to say

A new illegal logging dialogue — bringing together stakeholders from the G8 group of advanced industrial countries and China, India and other major timber producing nations — was launched by GLOBE International and the Com+ in conjunction with the 13-20 September 2006 annual IMF-World Bank meetings in Singapore. The new initiative aims to provide a forum outside formal international negotiating structures for government officials and other stakeholders to develop a plan of action to address illegal logging. The Dialogue plans to present recommendations to the G8 in 2008.

“Illegal logging cannot be tackled unilaterally and that is why it is so important to address this problem from both ends of the supply chain - from timber producing countries to timber consuming countries. Together we can build agreement and make a real difference,” stated the co-chairs of the Dialogue, Barry Gardiner and Egbe Achuo Hillman.

In related news, a World Bank report released at the Singapore meetings concluded that illegal logging of timber on public lands in developing countries generates losses in assets and revenue of more than US$10 billion each year. This amounts to more than six times the total official development assistance for sustainable management of forests. Entitled “Strengthening Forest Law Enforcement and Governance: Addressing a Systemic Constraint to Sustainable Development”, the report says illegal logging often threatens the livelihoods and security of poor, forest-dependent people and distorts the marketplace, subjecting legitimate forest enterprises to unfair competition through price undercutting. It further argues that illegal operations discourage companies from making socially and environmentally responsible investments into the sector. To combat this situation, countries need to strengthen their law enforcement capacity, technical expertise and the rule of law, including laws aimed at curbing timber theft, wildlife poaching and money-laundering.

“With more than 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty dependent on forests for some part of their livelihoods, good forest sector governance is integral to the bank’s mission of poverty reduction, and a key component of the Bank’s fight against corruption,” stated Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for sustainable development.

ICTSD reporting: “World Bank says illegal logging costs US$10 billion-a-year,” ASSOCIATED PRESS, 16 September 2006; “Illegal logging costing nations billions: World Bank,” REUTERS, 16 September 2006.