During September, environmental and human rights defenders from Africa and Asia went to the EU to sound the alarm over accelerating forest loss in the Congo Basin, West Africa and the Lower Mekong regions. Their message was clear, the EU must play a key role in finding global solutions if it is serious about protecting biodiversity and greening its policies. Soure: Timberbiz
With a European Green Deal currently under construction, it is vital that these voices be heard because many EU policies and practices impact them.
The civil society leaders urged the EU to step up efforts to fight illegal logging and to reward progress in producing countries implementing a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA).
The Congo Basin could quickly become a new frontier for conversion of forests for agrobusiness, Justin Kamga from FODER said.
“In Cameroon, the government recently awarded an agriculture permit in a former logging concession without following due process. Should we keep quiet on malpractices or push for greater accountability?” he asked.
Meeting with the Commission, the European External Action Service and Members of the European Parliament, CSOs welcomed the new momentum on forests and the proposed European Green Deal, but feared that crucial support for international forests and for civil society’s watchdog role might shrink in the new EU budget.
In Bonn, they asked the German Competent Authority to uphold the EU’s commitment to giving FLEGT licenses a green lane to the EU market; to fail to do so would send the wrong signal to producer countries that have invested time and resources in cleaning up their sector and achieving the highest legal and sustainability standards for their timber.
At an event hosted by Coordination Sud and Fern in Paris French Secretary of State Brune Poirson called on France and the EU to stop delaying action on deforestation, if it is serious about tackling climate change.
Hop Vu Thi Bich from Vietnam’s Centre for Sustainable Rural Development said: “In our countries, we cannot talk about working on the climate without improving forest governance and involving local communities.”
In the coming months, the EU will develop proposals for its European Green Deal. The participants were clear that the EU and its partner countries must include forests and local livelihoods.
Adequate funding support is required to address the forest crisis linked to the growing demand for commodities and arable land.
