Illegal timber exports targeted by new free trade pacts

05/08/2013

A new free trade agreement that has been signed by the US and Peru, has revealed that the same treaties which open worldwide markets to tropical timber can also create methods to clap down on illegal logging.

According to a new piece of research currently being compiled in Peru by the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency, stronger law enforcements and cooperation to improve the management of forests, are all contained within the pact.

Julia Urrunaga, a researcher with the Environmental Investigation Agency, told attendees at the recent Third Latin American Congress of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) in San José, Costa Rica, that the pact represented each country's shared responsibility in cracking down on illegal logging.

“For the environmental provisions in free trade agreements to be effective, they have to be binding, subject to dispute resolution and placed on an equal footing with the commitments in other chapters,” Urrunaga told CIFOR.

While the draft text for the new trade agreement has not yet been confirmed, it is reported to contain both environmental and conservation issue negotiations, the US Trade Representative’s office reported. It may also comprise provisions to stop illegal harvesting and trading of timber and forest products, the office added.

While trade treaties can help to stamp out illegal logging, they are not a replacement for the implementation of effective forest-management policy in countries exporting the products, a forestry expert has said.

Pablo Pacheco, a scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), told the CIFOR blog: “Demand-side measures to ensure the legality of exports do not necessarily mean that forest management will be sustainable in the long run. It is important to put in place measures on the supply side to promote sustainable practices.”