Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. January 2011 (Cameroon News) - European Union (EU) and Cameroon has joined together in their battle against exporting illegal timber.
iroko tree (Hardwood) – West African Iroko tree
The European Union has inked the Voluntary Partnership Agreement with Cameroon, who is the biggest exporter of wood to the European Union.
The deal will enable both the parties to work in synergy towards prevention of the export of timber that has been felled illegally and also disable illegal trading of wood products to the EU.
By July 2012, any wood products that is shipped out from Cameroon to the EU will need to hold a license that indicates that these products have been made out of wood that has been procured legally.
Timber transporting truckers share the same narrow roads with taxis and cars
The agreement will work as a symbol of a positively strong synergy between the two parties to totally alleviate illegal felling of wood while also working towards curbing deforestation.
The deal is also indicative of the country’s ongoing attempts at setting up stringer regulations towards better administration and control of the forest sector and development.
European clients from their side will have improved trust on the wood that they take from Cameroon that includes furniture also has a proper legal backing to it.
European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, stated, “This Agreement is a major step forward in our fight against illegal logging and will contribute to economic development and poverty alleviation in Cameroon.
Timber logging Activity in Cameroon, Africa
At the same time it also 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.”
Talk pertaining to this particular deal between Cameroon and the EU had commenced way back in 2007 and has been typically dependant on active participation of civil society and private sector delegates. A national wood traceability system is already being conceived and is well on the way to being implemented as well.
Illegal felling of wood has been proving to be highly destructive not just for the forests where it is happening and which are being depleted of their wealth but also the environment as such and the ones to suffer the most out of these illegal activities are the people whose lives depend heavily on the forests and the resources that it holds.
The European Union’s reaction to put a firm hold on illegal felling of wood is clearly laid out in the 2003 Forest Law Enforcement Government and Trade Action Plan.
The most salient aspect of this policy is the Voluntary Partnership Agreement between the EU and countries which export wood or wood products there.
Cameroon is one of the major timber exporting countries of the Congo Basin, which is also home to the worlds second biggest tropical forest. Eighty percent of Cameroon’s timber is sent to the EU.
Africa’s biggest exporter of tropical timber to Europe is all geared up to put in place a nation wide system to guarantee legal conformance in timber production, which will not only apply to all timber and wood products being exported to the EU, but also to the timber that is sold in the domestic market as well as to non-EU markets.
The European Union will also simultaneously ensure unrestricted access to all its markets for all timber products coming from Cameroon that have been certified as procured legally.
These better control systems will also permit Cameroon to put the necessary curbs on illegal deforestation and degradation that is the major reasons behind global climate change.
Cameroon Minister Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, who is responsible for forest and wildlife, inked the deal for Cameroon. It is the third in a series of bilateral agreements that have been mutually accepted by the EU and timber producing countries.
