About

The VPA Africa – Latin America Facility supports the negotiation and implementation of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) on Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT). VPAs are a key component of the EU FLEGT Action Plan to address illegal logging and the trade in associated timber products.

About

The VPA Africa – Latin America Facility supports the negotiation and implementation of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) on Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT). VPAs are a key component of the EU FLEGT Action Plan to address illegal logging and the trade in associated timber products.

What we do

In order to help countries to improve forest governance and to tackle illegal logging/trade, the VPA Africa – Latin America Facility works with key stakeholders in VPA processes, in particular:

Government institutions in partner countries that are responsible for negotiating and implementing VPAs.
Local NGOs and industry associations as stakeholders of forest governance processes in VPA partner countries.
FLEGT actors in producing and consuming countries.
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships and the EU Delegations.

Our services

We strengthen systems and capacity of actors in the negotiation and implementation of VPAs by:

Supporting formal and technical bilateral dialogue in line with VPA roadmaps and joint implementation frameworks.
Supporting decision making on critical steps in VPA processes.
Informing the improvement of regulatory frameworks for VPA processes.
Supporting the design, development and deployment of timber legality assurance systems (TLAS).
Conducting analyses to support functioning of TLAS and FLEGT licensing schemes.
Providing guidance, lessons and good practices for governance and monitoring problems and solutions.
Supporting joint communications and stakeholder communication on the VPA.
Supporting facilitation of VPA related multi-stakeholder dialogue.

We share and disseminate FLEGT and VPA knowledge and impacts by:

Preparing and disseminating briefings and lessons to inform FLEGT actors.
Supporting exchanges between VPA countries and donor’s coordination on FLEGT.
Conducting studies related to the forest sector.
Raising awareness on FLEGT and VPAs.

Donors

The VPA Africa – Latin America Facility is funded by the European Union.

About the VPA Africa – Latin America Facility

The VPA Africa – Latin America Facility supports the implementation of the EU FLEGT Action Plan with a focus on Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs). The Facility contributes to combating illegal logging and strengthening forest governance while encouraging sustainable economic development in countries that produce or process timber and export to the EU. The Facility is hosted by the European Forest Institute (EFI) and was established in November 2019.

Disclaimer

This website has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.