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EU asked to reject all illegal timber after SVLK acceptance

Having secured recognition of legal timber production by the European Union (EU), Indonesia has demanded that the bloc strongly reject all illegally-sourced wood products in a consistent manner

Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, December 7, 2016

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EU asked to reject all illegal timber after SVLK acceptance

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aving secured recognition of legal timber production by the European Union (EU), Indonesia has demanded that the bloc strongly reject all illegally-sourced wood products in a consistent manner.

After 15 years of effort, Indonesia, once notorious for its rampant illegal logging, recently became the first country in the world whose domestic timber legality system (SVLK) has been acknowledged as compliant with the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licensing scheme.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry’s director general for sustainable forest management Putera Parthama expected the bloc to continue scrutinizing non-legally verified timber, including wood products re-exported by third countries despite the high inspection costs.

“We know inspections may be costly with intensive manpower use and longer processes, but the EU will need to consistently enforce it,” said Putera at an EU-ASEAN FLEGT workshop on Tuesday.

Commenting on the current development, he said that so far EU practices had been good, which he hoped would continue, citing Sweden’s recent rejection of allegedly illegal timber from Myanmar.

EU Ambassador to ASEAN Franscisco Fontan Pardo said the bloc was committed to best practices as it was known for having the highest requirement standard in terms of legality of timber. Therefore, other ASEAN countries are urged to apply for FLEGT licenses as well to combat illegal logging crimes.

“Indonesia has the world’s third largest rain forest in the world and if we take ASEAN in, we’re talking about a very substantial number of trees worldwide, which has global implications in tackling deforestation,” Francisco said.

The decisions about six other ASEAN countries that are currently applying for the license — Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam — may come soon.

ASEAN Secretariat director of sectoral development directorate Tran Dong Phuong revealed that the bloc was in process of negotiating a mutual recognition arrangement so that once the member had obtained a FLEGT license, other member countries could buy its timber products without inspection
as well.

“We’re working on that but it’s hard to predict when it will conclude. It depends on the response of each country,” he said.

EU Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Vincent Guerend said holding a FLEGT license would increase exports of holder country.

“I think Indonesian timber products now will have a competitive advantage in the EU. Indonesia supplies 10 percent of the world’s timber market and EU imports a third of that,” Guerent said, adding that the deal was beneficial for both parties.

With the new FLEGT certification, Indonesian wood product sales may get a boost in primary European destinations, such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom (UK).

From November 15 to 23 as many as 845 FLEGT licenses for timber products were issued to selected exporters.

Overseas shipments of these products to 24 European countries amounts to US$24.96 million, according to official data.

Valued at $11.92 million, wooden panels make up the majority of the exports, followed by furniture with US$7.25 million.

The Indonesian Wood Panel Association (Apkindo) expects that the value of domestic plywood exports to one of its key markets will increase by at least 20 percent from this year’s figures thanks to the newly introduced license.

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