(CU)_The recent boost in efforts to maximise sustainable development across the world has given rise to the need to increase in legality and transparency in the global timber trade. According to recent studies, illegal logging is estimated to account for 10 to 30 per cent of the global timber trade, amounting to $30 – 100 billion annually. This impairs food security, poverty alleviation, climate change mitigation and other sustainable development efforts of the international community.
Therefore, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on Thursday (15 July), launched a new online portal ‘TimberLex’, with the aim of promoting legal forest management and trade production and trade. The portal, which was developed with the support of the government of Japan, provides information regarding forest-related laws and regulations from 46 timber consumer, processing and producing countries.
Highlighting the significance of this initiative, Daphne Hewitt, Manager of the FAO-European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Programme, said: “One of the challenges to promoting legality and transparency in the timber trade is knowing what regulations are in place that may impact actions along the value chain, as each country’s legal system is of course, unique.”
“It can be very challenging for timber producers, exporters, importers and regulators in timber exporting and importing countries to find reliable information on national legal requirements around timber legality,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Chief of the Development Law Service of the FAO Legal Office, Blaise Kuemlangan, noted that TimberLex will assist in the process of verification and due diligence efforts in the timber industry worldwide, and that the portals “unique selling point” is its user-friendly nature which enables easy access to national legislation in three languages.
The portal was launched as a branch of FAOLEX, the world’s largest online collection of national laws on food, agriculture and renewable natural resources, managed by the FAO.
