Context
Forests play an important role, both in mitigating climate change, and in the economic development of Laos. Despite this, almost half of the country’s forest cover has been lost in recent decades and the remaining natural forests are under severe pressure and widely degraded. The destruction of forests not only diminishes their unique biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide, but it also reduces the availability of forest products for local people. This puts the poorest groups of society, whose livelihoods depend on intact forests, at a particular disadvantage.
The causes of deforestation and forest degradation are diverse. They include illegal logging and shifting cultivation patterns, as well as the conversion of forest areas due to infrastructure projects and the expansion of mining, plantations, farming and settlements.
Illegal logging is taking place on a significant scale in Laos. It causes serious social and environmental damage, while resulting in severe losses of state revenues.
The European Union (EU) adopted its Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) in 2003. The scheme promotes good governance in the forestry sector around the world, with the aim of reducing illegal logging and strengthening sustainable forestry. It is designed to prevent imports into the EU of illegal timber and wood-based products. The plan includes financial and technical support and advice to timber producing countries, as well as measures to promote the legal timber trade. Central to the scheme are the Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) established between the EU and timber-producing countries.
Objective
In cooperation with each other, the Government of Laos, the private sector, representatives of civil society and local people have negotiated a FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Laos and the EU.
Approach
As a joint initiative of the Lao Government and German development cooperation, this GIZ project supports the VPA negotiation process between the EU and Laos. A VPA sets out the commitments and actions of both parties, in their effort to address illegal logging. A key requirement on the part of the EU is that the VPA negotiations should entail a participatory stakeholder process involving government agencies, civil society groups, the timber industry and local communities.
All VPAs have a timber legality assurance system (TLAS) at the centre, which consists of five main elements. It defines what constitutes legally produced timber, how to control the supply chain, how to verify legally sourced timber and how to issue licenses. It also requires independent monitoring to ensure that the system works well.
In contributing to the VPA development and negotiation process in Laos, the GIZ project focuses on four closely related areas:
• Support for government agencies in managing the national FLEGT process and in negotiating the VPA; here the project also encourages other stakeholders to participate in this process.
• Capacity building for government agencies, civil society organisations, academic stakeholders and the timber processing industry at local and national levels, to prepare them for the elaboration of the timber legality assurance system.
• Testing of the system in three pilot provinces to assess its practical application on the ground. Findings from the pilot areas will be fed back into the process of developing the legality assurance system in order to improve it. Delivered in the form of on-the-job training, this will improve the skills and experience of the actors implementing the system.
• Coordination of the various national forest policy initiatives, in particular the FLEGT and REDD+ processes. Thus it is possible to take advantage of common ground between the processes while deepening the commitments of the actors involved. The coordination mechanisms will take into consideration best practices for FLEGT and REDD+ gained in other countries, as well as regionally and internationally. In turn, Laos’ own experiences will also be shared with others at the international level.
The project works closely with the European Commission, which is acting on behalf of the 28 EU Member States to negotiate the VPA with the Government of Laos, and it liaises with both the EU Delegation in Laos and the European Forest Institute (EFI), which support the FLEGT process.