CAMEROON SIGNS LANDMARK TIMBER LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH EUROPEAN UNION

Douala, Cameroon, West Africa Oct. 11th (news.cameroon-today.com) – Cameroon entered into a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with European Union that is a long term partnership intended to supply legally felled timber from the country to European Union.

Timber logging Activity in Cameroon, Africa

Cameroon in EU’s largest supplier of timber and the agreement signed yesterday licenses the country to ship timber that is legally cut and will be a step in the world history to prevent illegal logging.

The early half of this year saw a regulation passed in the EU that will ban any import or sale of timer that has been cut illegally from2012. This was the first step taken by the countries in the EU to independently license timber that is being solicited from legal estates which is being positively supported by a series of pacts that is jointly called the Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA)

The clauses of the VPA with Cameroon states that from July 2012 any timber or wood based products that will be shipped in from Cameroon will require to be supported by a license that indicated with sufficient proof that the same has a lawful origin if they need to enter the EU countries.

In conjunction with this deal the country has also decided to set up a country wide system to guarantee legal conformities in timber production as well as felling with specific reference to timber being exported to non EU markets and 80 percent of the exports to EU markets and ones sold in domestic markets.

Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, Cameroon minister for forest and wildlife, signed the agreement on behalf of Cameroon after three long years of talks. This is expected to set the pace to a series of similar negotiations between EU and other African as well as non African countries.

Andris Piebalgs, European commissioner for development, said that this move would be the right prelude to meeting the ever increasing demand for sustainably certified timber.

“This Agreement is a major step forward in our fight against illegal logging and will contribute to economic development and poverty alleviation in Cameroon, ” he said. “At the same time, [it] responds to the ever stronger expectations in Europe for verified legality of timber products. It will benefit the European consumers because they can be sure that when they buy wood from Cameroon, it is from a legal origin.”