|
|
Second Round of the International Experts Meeting on Illegal Logging
3-4 March 2008 |
|
|
The Second Round of the International Experts Meeting on Illegal Logging took place in Tokyo, Japan, on 3-4 March 2008. The Meeting was hosted by the Government of Japan and attended by 51 senior level experts on the illegal logging issue as well as 11 observers. Participating countries were 19 major timber-producing and timber-consuming countries, namely, Australia, Canada, France, Gabonese Republic, Germany, Republic of Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Russian Federation, Solomon Islands, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Commission, as well as representatives from international organisations and institutions, namely FAO, ITTO, the World Bank, Chatham House, IGES, Lembaga Ekolabel Institute, TRAFFIC International and the World Resources Institute, that are actively involved in initiatives to combat illegal logging. Representatives from the private sector and civil society also participated as observers.
IGES provided assistance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in drafting the agenda and concept note of the meeting. In addition, IGES delivered a presentation on "Public procurement policies for legal and sustainable timber: Trends and essential elements" and assisted in drafting the Chairpersons' Summary.
|
|
Objectives and structure:
The primary objectives of the meeting were threefold:
(1) consider recent developments, actions taken by timber-producing and consuming countries as well as international organisations, and their impacts
(2) reassess challenges, and consider and prioritise necessary further actions, taking into account practical lessons learned from a range of efforts underway, such as the development of credible and effective systems that verify legality and sustainability of timber and timber products, the introduction of public timber procurement policies that favour legal and sustainable timber and a range of initiatives underway to enhance governance and forest law enforcement through improved transparency of the forest sector
(3) to present ideas for the draft report on illegal logging drawn up by G8 forest experts.
The meeting comprised four main sessions:
| 1. |
Actions to Tackle Illegal Logging and their Impacts |
| 2. |
Challenges Ahead and Ways to Move Forward:
a)Verifying Legality and Sustainability and b)Ensuring Transparency of Forest Management |
| 3. |
Further Options to Eliminate Illegal Logging and its Associated Trade |
| 4. |
The Draft G8 Experts Report on Illegal Logging |
Way forward:
Based on the input from participants, the Government of Japan will further elaborate the report with the intention of forwarding it to the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting in May 2008.
|
|
|
|
