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| Commission to fight illegal logging and the trade in illegal timber The European Commission welcomed agreement by Member States on measures to fight illegal logging and the trade in illegal timber, a growing problem that robs governments in affected developing countries of an estimated €10-15bn every year in lost revenue and damages environment. The measures adopted consist of voluntary partnerships to support and promote governance reform in countries badly affected by illegal logging; and a regulation that sets up a legally-binding licensing scheme with partner countries to ensure that only legal timber from these countries is imported into the EU. The Commission proposed measures to combat illegal logging and the associated trade in July 2004. Later that year the Commission committed €20m to fund a series of pilot programmes to promote greater transparency through independent monitoring of timber harvesting operations. The World Bank estimates that developing country governments are currently losing some US$10-15 billion annually due to illegal logging. Over the past decade the EC has provided more than €700m to support forest conservation and sustainable management in Asia, Central Africa and South America. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Construction News :: home page |