Dans le milieu rural ivoirien, les femmes dépendent des forêts pour la subsistance et la santé de leurs familles. Néanmoins, malgré l’existence de lois reconnaissant l’égalité des sexes, elles ne sont pas impliquées dans les décisions qui touchent aux forêts et n’ont qu’un accès très limité à la propriété de la terre et aux bénéfices économiques que celle-ci rapporte.
On 10 March 2022, representatives of Guyana and the European Union agreed on a detailed roadmap implementing the Guyana-EU FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), which aims to improve forest governance and verify the trade in legal timber.
“Through the implementation of the VPA, Guyana is further reducing illegal timber trade, modernising timber operations and ensuring forestry brings employment in the formal economy,” said Honorable Vickram Bharrat, MP Minister of Natural Resources. “During our earlier negotiations, Guyana has already addressed key objectives such as the revision of the National Forest Policy and the alignment of the VPA to Guyana’s Constitution as well as international legal texts, such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
EU Ambassador to Guyana, H.E. Fernando Ponz Canto, further stated that “timber and timber products covered by valid FLEGT licences automatically meet the requirements of the EU Timber Regulation. Once Guyana’s Timber Legality Assurance System is fully operational, the EU will allow imports of FLEGT-licensed timber from Guyana to enter the EU market without due diligence checks under the EU Timber Regulation”. The Roadmap agreed will provide significant benefits for Guyana, the Ambassador added: “this is a major step towards more inclusive and sustainable use of Guyana’s formidable forest resources, and a further increase in EU-Guyana trade”.
These achievements show that Guyana is strengthening forest governance through the VPA and other related initiatives and is advancing toward FLEGT licensing. Good governance of Guyana’s forests is crucial to sustainable development. Moreover, it helps both Guyana and the EU contribute to achieving the world’s Sustainable Development Goals, mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity.
During the meeting, the Parties also discussed the establishment of the Guyana-EU VPA Joint Monitoring and Review Committee (JMRC), which will oversee the implementation of the Agreement and includes representatives of all stakeholder groups.
The Parties considered the next steps in the VPA signature and ratification process, which is anticipated to be completed before the end of the year. Representatives of private sector and civil society, including Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations, presented the issues they would like further discussion on. The Parties re-iterated that all forest stakeholders will be involved in the VPA implementation process. Guyana committed to make funds available to support the implementation of the VPA. The EU has already been providing highly significant financial support and is planning to continue to do so in line with the Joint implementation framework both Parties have agreed upon at the pre-JMRC. Additional support is provided by the Norway and the UK.
The next meeting of the Parties is foreseen to take place before the end of 2022.
Les négociations de l’Accord de Partenariat Volontaire (APV) FLEGT (Application des réglementations forestières, gouvernance et échanges commerciaux) entre la Côte d’Ivoire et l’Union européenne (UE) avancent à bon rythme et se rapprochent de leur conclusion, prévue en avril 2022. Cet Accord vise à améliorer la gouvernance forestière ivoirienne et à assurer que le bois et ses produits dérivés exportés vers l’UE sont légaux. Dans ce cadre, des tests de terrain ont été réalisés afin de soumettre à examen certains éléments clés de l’APV et proposer d’éventuelles améliorations.
Pour assurer la légalité du bois et ses produits dérivés exportés vers l’UE, l’APV inclut une définition de la légalité. Cette définition identifie les exigences réglementaires en matière économique, environnementale et sociale à respecter par les opérateurs et autorités intervenants dans la filière forêt-bois.
Avant la conclusion des négociations, les parties prenantes doivent soumettre à examen la définition de la légalité. Pour cela, durant le mois de février, une équipe composée de représentants des différentes parties prenantes dans les négociations et d’un consultant international a réalisé une série de tests de terrain.
L’équipe a visité plusieurs unités de transformation du bois pour vérifier que les conditions légales liées aux droits des travailleurs étaient effectivement appliquées aux différentes étapes de la chaine d’approvisionnement.
L’équipe a aussi eu l’occasion d’échanger avec les administrations forestières et les communautés locales. Un des points clés a été d’évaluer dans quelle mesure les dispositions légales récemment adoptées pour l’application du Code Forestier ivoirien sont déjà reflétées dans les pratiques sur le terrain, ainsi que les éventuelles difficultés rencontrées.
Le rapport des tests, qui est attendu pour la fin du mois de février, identifiera les lacunes et les possibilités d’amélioration. Il inclura également des recommandations qui permettront aux parties prenantes de négocier un Accord plus réaliste, applicable et adapté à la réalité ivoirienne.
Negotiations of a FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between Côte d’Ivoire and the European Union (EU) are advancing at a good pace and scheduled to conclude in April 2022. This Agreement aims to improve Ivorian forest governance and ensure that timber and timber products exported to the EU are legal. In this context, field tests have been carried out to assess certain key VPA elements and to suggest improvements.
To ensure the legality of timber and timber products exported to the EU, the VPA defines this legality. The legality definition identifies the economic, environmental and social regulatory requirements to be respected by operators and authorities involved in the timber sector.
Before negotiations conclude, stakeholders are assessing the suitability of the legality definition on the ground. In February, a team consisting of representatives of the various stakeholders involved in the negotiations and an international consultant conducted a series of field tests.
The team visited several wood processing units to check that the legal conditions related to workers’ rights were applicable at all stages of the supply chain.
The team also discussed with forestry administrations and local communities to what extent the legal requirements recently adopted to implement the Ivorian Forest Code are being applied on the ground, and whether any difficulties were encountered.
The test report, expected by the end of February, will identify areas for improvement. It will also include recommendations, enabling stakeholders to negotiate an Agreement that is more realistic, applicable and adapted to the Ivorian reality.
In the lead up to the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the European Forest Institute (EFI) has released a story describing the experience of indigenous peoples in the negotiation of the EU-Honduras Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). The agreement is reshaping the way forests are managed in Honduras.
Honduras and the European Union committed in 2013 to working together and addressing illegal logging and trade. The VPA was negotiated to improve overall governance in the forest sector, and to ensure wood sold domestically and exported from Honduras comes from legal sources. The agreement has now been ratified by the Honduran congress and by the EU.
From the outset, VPA negotiations in Honduras included representatives from indigenous communities along with the Government, private sector, and civil society organisations.
Rosario García, president of the National Lenca Indigenous Organisation (ONIL) and coordinator of the Roundtable for the Unity of Lenca Indigenous People (MUPIL), describes the VPA as an opportunity to deal with historic, entrenched problems indigenous peoples have struggled with.
Carmen Borjas, who represents small and medium forest owners, says the VPA has been ratified with an unparalleled level of consensus, with forest owners now paying full attention to what indigenous groups have to say.
“Nos incorporamos tarde al proceso, pero sabíamos que era importante, así que pusimos mucho interés en entenderlo. Y nos encontramos con un grupo de actores comprometidos a trabajar de manera conjunta en busca de un objetivo común”. Rosario García es la presidenta de la Organización Nacional Indígena Lenca de Honduras (ONIL) y la coordinadora de la Mesa de la Unidad del Pueblo Indígena Lenca de Honduras (MUPIL). El proceso al que se refiere se conoce como Acuerdo Voluntario de Asociación, o AVA, y está transformando la forma en que se manejan los bosques hondureños.
“We came late to the process. But knew it was important, so we made it our priority to understand it. And we were met by a committed group of people working together towards a common objective”. Rosario García is the president of the National Lenca Indigenous Organisation (ONIL) and coordinator of the Roundtable for the Unity of Lenca Indigenous People (MUPIL). The process she is referring to is known as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, or VPA, and it is already reshaping the way forests are managed in Honduras.
En las jornadas previas al Día Internacional de los Pueblos Indígenas del Mundo, el Instituto Forestal Europeo (EFI) ha publicado una historia que describe la experiencia de los pueblos indígenas en la negociación del Acuerdo Voluntario de Asociación (AVA) entre la UE y Honduras. El acuerdo reconfigura la manera en que se gestionan los bosques en Honduras.
En 2013, Honduras y la Unión Europea se comprometieron a trabajar juntos y abordar el problema de la tala y el comercio ilegales de madera. Las negociaciones del AVA buscaban mejorar la gobernanza del sector forestal y garantizar que la madera vendida en el mercado hondureño o exportada a la UE u otros destinos tenga un origen legal. El AVA ya ha sido ratificado por el congreso de Honduras y la UE.
Desde su inicio, las negociaciones incluyeron a representantes de las comunidades indígenas, del Gobierno, del sector privado y de distintas organizaciones de la sociedad civil.
Rosario García, presidenta de la Organización Nacional Indígena Lenca (ONIL) y coordinadora de la Mesa de Unidad del Pueblo Indígena Lenca (MUPIL), sostiene que el AVA representa una gran oportunidad para afrontar los problemas estructurales con los que históricamente han tenido que lidiar los pueblos indígenas.
Carmen Borjas, representante de los pequeños y medianos dueños de bosques, sostiene que el AVA se ratificó con un nivel de consenso sin precedentes, en un proceso en el que los propietarios forestales prestaron gran atención a lo que los grupos indígenas tienen que decir.
The EU and Honduras have ratified a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade, to address illegal logging and promote trade in legal timber products.
Implementation of the VPA will take several years, during which Honduras will develop a timber legality assurance system to ensure that its timber and timber products come from legal sources and comply with relevant laws relating to importation, exportation, harvesting, processing and trade.
Implementation of the VPA will entail introducing systems and procedures to assure that businesses in Honduras only use domestic timber or import timber that has been harvested and traded in accordance with relevant legislation in the country of harvest. This will prevent illegally-harvested timber, and businesses trading it, from taking part in supply chains regulated by the timber legality assurance system.
An EU-Honduras Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) will oversee how the provisions of the Agreement are put into practice.
Once the VPA has been fully implemented, and a joint assessment by the EU and Honduras confirms this, the parties will set a date from which Honduras will issue FLEGT licences to its EU-bound exports of verified legal timber products.
FLEGT-licensed products will automatically meet the requirements of the EU Timber Regulation, which prohibits the placing of illegal timber on the EU market.
Until FLEGT licensing starts, imports into the EU from Honduras will continue to be subject to the due diligence requirements of the EU Timber Regulation aimed at ensuring that the risk of placing illegal products on the Union market is negligible.
Honduras and the European Union (EU) have reached an agreement on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber products. The agreement will ensure that all Honduran timber and timber products imported in the EU are legally sourced and licensed.
The Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) was signed on 23 February by the Portuguese Ambassador Nuno Brito, European Commissioner for international partnerships Jutta Urpilainen and the Ambassador of Honduras Roberto Ochoa Madrid. It will enter into force after each Party has ratified it in line with their internal procedures.
Honduras is the first Latin American country to sign a voluntary partnership agreement with the EU under the Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).
As per the agreement, Honduras will develop robust mechanisms to ensure locally produced timber is legally obtained. A timber legality assurance system will be set up to assess Honduran timber logging with requirements similar to the ones set in the EU Timber Regulation.
This process enhances the EU’s sustainable development and trade goals and will contribute to the broader objective of reducing illegal logging.
Rodrigue Ngonzo, EU-F4F/Particip
Marc Vandenhaute, EFI