The Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) and the Rainforest Alliance have published a review of forest law enforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT) and voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs) concluded between Congo Basin countries and the EU, highlighting achievements and remaining challenges.
16 August 2015: The Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) and the Rainforest Alliance have published a review of forest law enforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT) and voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs) concluded between Congo Basin countries and the EU, highlighting achievements and remaining challenges.
The review is the final report of a UN Environment Programme (UNEP)/Global Environment Facility (GEF) project, titled, ‘Towards a harmonized regional approach to sustainable management of production forests in the Congo Basin.’ The publication, titled ‘Review of VPA/FLEGT Process in the Congo Basin: Successes, Challenges and Prospects,’ is available in French.
The report highlights the significant progress in the negotiation and implementation of VPAs in the Congo Basin. It explains that VPAs are bilateral trade agreements that aim to improve forest governance in producing countries and ensure that timber products exported to the European market comply with all legal and regulatory requirements. It further notes that VPAs contribute to the fight against illegal logging.
The report highlights progress achieved with regard to stakeholder participation, the definition of forestry legality, the diversification of institutions promoting forest governance, and the intensification of the process for review of forest policies and laws in the participating countries. Remaining challenges identified by the review concern: difficulties in implementation of simplified national traceability systems; inadequate testing of legality systems; the absence of information systems; and operational difficulties of national legal verification systems. Other challenges refer to the poor organization of domestic timber markets, the insufficiency of financial resources allocated to the VPA/FLEGT activities, and delays in reviewing national forest policies and laws. [Congo Basin Forest Partnership Press Release and executive Summary] [Publication: Review of VPA/FLEGT Process in the Congo Basin: Successes, Challenges and Prospects (in French)]