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Date: April 18, 2024 Thu
Time: 1:24 pm
Time: 1:24 pm
Results for customs/borders
1 results foundAuthor: Lopez-Casero, Federico Title: Customs Collaboration to Combat the Interntional Trade in Illegal Timber Summary: While it is widely understood that forests fulfil economic, social and environmental functions that are critical to human survival and wellbeing, their destruction continues at an alarming rate; the area of primary forest in Asia decreased at an average rate of 1.5 million hectares per annum from 1990-2005 (FAO 2006, 135). Not all of this deforestation is planned. In developing tropical countries, illegal logging is a significant cause of forest degradation that often leads to permanent land use conversion. Because timber markets mostly do not distinguish between legal and illegal timber, international trade can inadvertently act as a driver of illegal logging. Various initiatives are underway to reform the international timber trade to support legal and sustainable forest operations. This policy brief presents the findings of a study conducted by IGES and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) from June 2008 to January 2010 under the Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade (RAFT) programme for customs agencies to be involved in this endeavour. We mostly associate customs with collecting revenues and combating the trade in narcotics, weapons, etc. but the IGESTNC study found that customs could also play an important role in reducing the cross-border movement of illegal timber. The recommendations of the IGES-TNC study include: • Use existing bilateral agreements on illegal logging to build the capacity of customs and collaboration within and between countries for more effective enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). • Use export declarations as a check on legality at the point of import. • Target regional processes and platforms for regular meetings between customs and forestry officials. • Make more effective use of existing World Customs Organisation (WCO) networks and tools. Details: Kanagawa, Japan: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, 2010. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief No. 11: Accessed February 15, 2011 at: http://enviroscope.iges.or.jp/modules/envirolib/upload/2934/attach/pb11_e.pdf Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://enviroscope.iges.or.jp/modules/envirolib/upload/2934/attach/pb11_e.pdf Shelf Number: 120772 Keywords: Customs/BordersIllegal LoggingIllegal TradeOffenses Against the Environment |