Improving law compliancein the tropical forest sector:
tracking, certification andITTO

INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION

ITTO’s APPROACH
Rationalize
policy & legalenvironment

Promotestakeholder
participation

Improved lawcompliance

Improve informationand knowledge base

Increase capacity toenforce rules andregulations

Rationalizing Policy/Legal Environment
 Case studies on FLE/illegal trade in Peru,Malaysia, Honduras, Brazil, Ecuador, PNG foundconflicting laws and/or incoherent policies
 Projects in several countries to assist inidentifying underlying causes of illegality anddrafting coherent, consistent, enforceable forest
legislation
 Country diagnostic missions also identify
problems, promote improved policies for FLE Program to improve implementation of CITES
requirements for listed tropical timber species,
ensure forest laws consistent with CITESBuilding Capacity for FLE 5 Best Practices workshops with FAO
 Large training programs to: improve forest statistics
 promote use of C&I and auditing framework
 Promoting phased approaches to certification
 Promoting NGO/civil society involvement inforest monitoring Encouraging countries to engage withinternational initiatives (eg FLEGT) and inbilateral discussions/agreements, shareexperiencesImproving Data and Knowledge Bi-weekly MIS provides price and trade info;
Annual Review provides detailed information
on trade flows
 Trade discrepancy studies andproduction/capacity comparisons Many reasons for non-matching trade flows,
likelihood of illegality highest when they
persist over a number of years across a
range of trading partners/products; need forbilateral consultations

Improving Data and Knowledge
 Log tracking projects funded in Bolivia,
Cameroon, Congo, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana,Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, PNG, Peru,
Thailand, more to come, “TrackingSustainability” report published in 2012
 Worked with GFW/WRI to improve FLE andconcession monitoring in CAR, Rep. Congoand DRC Projects using satellite imagery with GIS(containing details of approved concessions,roads, etc) to spot illegal forest clearing andtrack legal timberImproving Data and Knowledge

Detection of forest clearing using IKONOS (4 m)and Landsat 5 (30 m) satellite data in Guyana

Promoting Stakeholder Involvement
Civil Society – Private sector partnership grants
to contribute to SFM and verifiable legality in
Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, Panama, PNG
and PeruInternational conferences arising fromrecommendations of TAG/CSAG Panel on
Illegal Logging /Illegal Timber Trade:Timber transport
Indigenous/community forestry
Tropical forest tenure

TFLET

Tropical Forest Law Enforcement, Governanceand Trade Thematic Program since 2008



Rationalizes ITTO’s work, provides new funding
window, one of four thematic programs
approved/funded under ITTA 2006

Over $15 million distributed to over 50 projects
in over 20 countries to date; main themes timbertracking and community empowerment

TFLET
Objectives:•Strengthen forest law enforcement and governancethrough improved national policy and legal frameworks,
stronger institutions, improved data and knowledge,
strengthened partnerships and improved cooperation
among civil society organizations and other stakeholders•Improve transparency and effective management of supply
chains and increased international trade in legally andsustainably produced tropical timber•Improve capacity of community and small and mediumsized enterprises to implement and demonstrate that timber
produced and traded comes from legal and sustainablesources

TFLET
Activites:• Strengthening forest governance (45%)• Support international trade in legal andsustainable timber (20%)• Strengthen community and SME capacity (35%)
All to be implemented in liaison with partners

Certification and public procurement• ITTO has assisted
numerous countries toprepare for certification
and/or to establish national
certification schemes• ITTO has also carried out
numerous studies on theevolution of certification andpublic procurement policies

Tropical timber certification• < 400 million ha certified world wide (< 10%of all forests)• < 10% of all certified forests in tropics (< 2%of total tropical forests)• ITTO studies have found that close to 10%of all tropical forests under SFM so potential
for growth of certification in tropics• Uncertainties over market acceptance andcost of tropical forest and chain of custodycertification need to be addressedTropical timber certifiers (area)• Total = under 40 million ha• FSC (> half)• MTCC (> 20%)
• LEI (< 10%)
• PEFC (< 10%)

Concerns, opportunities and challenges• Increase share of certified timber from naturalforests (especially under communitymanagement) in international trade by:• Making it profitable• Recognizing progress towards certification• Harmonize requirements of public procurement
schemes• Promote regional processes (eg ATO, Tarapoto)• Information on volumes and prices of certified
timber urgently required for informed decision
making and assessing policy impacts

Concerns, opportunities and challenges• Social criteria (eg worker’s rights) in
procurement/certification schemes may bedifficult to agree on/comply with
• Projects to improve forest management in thetropics (including those focusing on certification)
should be given special consideration in
procurement decisions and in decisions for
REDD+ financing• Procurement policies and certification schemes
for non-timber products that impact forests?

Concerns, opportunities and challenges

At close to $US1000 per tonne for crude palm oil,Indonesia’s 6 m ha earned over US$15 bn in 2012,
more than double the value of all primary wood
products exports from 120 m ha of forest; $2500/ha
is 8-10 times revenue expected from SFM for timber

www.itto.int