Commissioner Nielson's Speech on illegal logging

Ladies and Gentleman,
Good morning.

First of all, I would like to thank FERN and the Royal Institute of International Affairs for joining us here today to present what I think is a very important piece of work.

Illegal logging is a vast and complex problem, which demands a joint response from wood consuming and wood producing countries.

The focus of this seminar restricting illegal wood imports in consumer countries is a new and very important front in the fight against illegal logging. I fully share the fundamental belief that demand in developed countries for wood exerts an important and powerful influence on our trading partners.

In 2001, wood and wood products accounted for nearly 5% of EU imports from Africa in terms of value worth over €1.3 billion and behind only petroleum and diamonds in overall importance.

In certain key regions, such as Central Africa, and in certain key countries, including Cameroon, the Central Africa Republic, Congo and Gabon, wood and wood products account for over 20% of total EU imports one-fifth of all trade.

The European Union also has important trading links with wood-producing countries in parts of Europe, Asia and Latin America, notably Russia, Indonesia and Brazil.

Unfortunately, Europe -- and indeed the world -- currently lack the instruments required to prevent the trade in illegal timber, and so Europe's demand for wood products unwittingly fuels both legal and illegal exploitation of forests around the globe.

If our response to illegal logging does not address and temper the powerful influence which rich country demand has on global patterns of resource exploitation, then all our other efforts to reduce and eliminate the problem will be to no avail.

The legal trade in sustainably harvested timber helps our trading partners to build stronger economies, relieve poverty and grow as nations. But it pains me to note the growing body of evidence which shows that large volumes of timber entering the EU market has been harvested illegally.

This illegal trade deprives our developing country trading partners of billions of dollars in lost revenues money which could be better invested in poverty reduction programmes.

The illegal trade also destroys the environment, undermines traditional rural livelihoods, and places legitimate business ventures both in wood-producing nations and in Europe at an unfair disadvantage.

Furthermore, in some wood-producing countries, illegal logging has grown to become such a serious problem that it is undermining the rule of law and principles of good governance, and so jeopardises all that we hope to achieve through our overseas trade relations and development co-operation programmes.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We, as wealthy, wood-consuming nations, have a responsibility to do what we can to stop illegal logging and its destructive associated consequences.

This is an important matter to which the European Commission is strongly committed.

The European Commission is actively supporting initiatives for Forest Law Enforcement and Governance in Asia and Africa. These initiatives are designed to address the underlying causes of illegal logging in wood-producing countries. Many of our national and regional development programmes also address these same issues.

But as I noted earlier, it is simply not enough to focus our efforts only on producer country programmes. We must also address the demand, and the legislative weaknesses, which open our markets freely to illegal timber, and allow illegal operators to profit handsomely from their crimes.

As you may know, the European Commission is currently developing an Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade. Through this Action Plan we will outline measures which the European Community intends to take to prohibit the import of illegal wood and wood products.

Measures to be considered include establishing a mechanism to verify the legality of timber imported into the EU; new legislation to restrict imports of illegal timber; the launching of international efforts to improve multilateral co-operation on this issue; and capacity building and other support to wood-producing countries which agree to co-operate with the EC on this issue.

Illegal logging is a complex problem to which there is no simple solution. The work we are all doing in this field is breaking new ground, and shows clearly how we must all work in partnership if we are to succeed.

Wood-producing countries must introduce the necessary reforms to laws, policies and practices to make it harder to profit from illegal activities.

Consumer country governments must ensure that home demand and overseas investments do not undermine these difficult reforms by continuing to encourage illegality.

The private sector must work to promote good practice and exclude those companies who undermine the reputation of legitimate businesses with illegal and unethical activities.

Finally civil society NGOs and local people have an important role to play in providing timely and independent information, and to stimulate a broad-based debate in all the societies concerned.

The study of policy options which you will present to us in a while is thus both timely and very well-focused. It is my sincere hope that your expertise in this field will help to inform the Commission's response to the illegal logging problem.

It is by working together that we may succeed. I hope today's seminar takes us one step forward towards that objective, and I wish you wisdom and determination in your deliberation. Although I will not be able to stay beyond the presentation of the study, the European Commission will be represented throughout the day.

Thank you.

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• Action Plan to combat illegal logging and trade in illegal timber (21/5/2003)
• EU stresses commitment to combat illegal logging at WSSD (31/8/2002)