Sustainable development has three pillars: economic viability, environmental protection and social equity. If one of these pillars is unstable or missing, then no society can thrive.
Cuando Honduras decidió negociar un acuerdo sobre el comercio de la madera con la Unión Europea en 2013, muy pocos en el país imaginaban los efectos que emergerían del simple hecho de juntar a los actores del sector forestal para que hablaran de temas relacionados con el mismo.
When Honduras decided to negotiate a timber trade deal with the EU in 2013, few imagined the profound effect of simply having forest stakeholders come together to talk about timber-related issues.
En novembre 2018, un groupe de visiteurs du Laos s’est retrouvé dans une forêt au Libéria pour apprendre comment les fonctionnaires de l’administration forestière du pays suivent le bois tout au long de la chaîne d’approvisionnement. Quelques jours plus tard, ils ont fait de même au Ghana. Leurs visites – et celle d’une équipe de la République du Congo au Ghana – ont été effectuées dans le cadre d’accords commerciaux appelés Accords de partenariat volontaires (APV), conclus entre chacun des quatre pays et l’UE.
In November 2018, a group of visitors from Laos found themselves in a forest in Liberia, learning how the country’s forestry officials track timber through the supply chain. A few days later they got to do the same in Ghana. Their visits — and that of a team from Republic of the Congo to Ghana — were made in the context of trade deals called Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) that all four countries are engaged in with the EU.
On a cool grey day in Belgium last month, a group of visitors from Guyana gathered at Antwerp port and imagined a future in which their country’s timber products flow freely into the EU, bypassing red tape because every item has been verified to be legal.
For small and medium enterprises in Cameroon’s forest sector, trade with the vast EU market is a prized target. But small companies often face big challenges. Growing market demands for assurances that timber and timber products are legal mean such companies must adapt.
Javier Bernal Revert, EFI
VPA ALA Facility, EFI