Indonesia, FAO Renew Cooperation in Support of Forest Governance
24 May 2018 19:02 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is one of the world`s largest exporters of a wide variety of tropical wood products ranging from plywood, pulp and paper to furniture and handicrafts and representing US$10.935 billion worth in trade in 2017.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry is teaming up with FAO of the United Nations to support local stakeholders to further strengthen implementation of the national timber legality assurance system (Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu-SVLK), which form the backbone of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between Indonesia and the European Union (EU).
The SVLK is Indonesia’s national system providing assurance that timber harvested from natural production forests, industrial plantations, household-managed small-scale plantations or imported, is legal.
A collaboration agreement for the FAO-EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) program was signed today, May 24, by Director of Forest Product Processing and Marketing Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Rufi’ie and FAO Representative in Indonesia, Stephen Rudgard.
The agreement outlines how grants will be made available to finance initiatives from government institutions, private sector associations and civil society organizations that will support and further strengthen the implementation of the SVLK.
"The Agreement between (the MoEF and FAO) will provide a legal basis for a cooperation to strengthen the capacity of respective stakeholders in the implementation of Indonesian Timber Legality Assurance System (the SVLK) and the FLEGT VPA between Indonesia and European Union. It will ensure the capacity building, to all stake holders, especially for the small and medium enterprises. With this agreement, there will be more opportunities for Indonesia to share experience and lesson learned to other VPA countries on the above matters," said Rufi’ie.
Indonesia was the first country in the world to operationalize its VPA and has issued over 61 thousand FLEGT Licenses since November 2016. FLEGT licenses were issued for shipments exported to the 28 European Union Member States, with a total value of more than US$ 1.8 billion.
EU operators importing FLEGT-licensed timber automatically comply with the EU Timber Regulation creating a "green lane" for Indonesian timber entering the European Union.
“With EU support, FAO is working with national authorities in timber-producing countries such as Indonesia, as well as with international and local partners, to demonstrate the legality of timber and develop the legal trade in timber with EU and other consumer countries,” said Stephen. *)
