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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:36 am
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Results for natural resource
9 results foundAuthor: Verité Title: Research on Indicators of Forced Labor in the Supply Chain of Fish in Indonesia: Platform (Jermal) Fishing, Small-Boat Anchovy Fishing, and Blast Fishing Summary: Verité carried out research on the presence of indicators of forced labor in the production of ten goods in seven countries from 2008 through 2011. Research was carried out on the production of shrimp in Bangladesh; Brazil-nuts, cattle, corn, and peanuts in Bolivia; sugar in the Dominican Republic; coffee in Guatemala; fish in Indonesia; rubber in Liberia; and tuna in the Philippines. The following report is based on research on the presence of indicators of forced labor in certain types of fishing in Indonesia. This research was not intended to determine the existence or scale of forced labor in the countries and sectors under study, but rather to identify the presence of indicators of forced labor and factors that increased workers‘ vulnerability to labor exploitation. Objectives The primary objectives of the project were to:  obtain background information on certain areas of the fishing sector in Indonesia;  create a methodology to study the presence of indicators of forced labor in some areas of the Indonesian fishing sector;  identify and document indicators of forced labor among workers in the Indonesian fishing sector;  document the broader working conditions that workers in the fishing sector experience; and  determine the risk factors for vulnerability to forced labor and other forms of exploitation in the particular areas of the Indonesian fishing sector. Details: Amherst, MA: Verite, 2012(?). 136p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 22, 2013 at: http://www.verite.org/sites/default/files/images/Research%20on%20Indicators%20of%20Forced%20Labor%20in%20the%20Indonesian%20Fishing%20Sector__9.16.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Indonesia URL: http://www.verite.org/sites/default/files/images/Research%20on%20Indicators%20of%20Forced%20Labor%20in%20the%20Indonesian%20Fishing%20Sector__9.16.pdf Shelf Number: 128086 Keywords: Fishing Industry (Indonesia)Forced LaborIllegal FishingNatural ResourceWildlife ConservationWildlife Crimes |
Author: Brack, Duncan Title: Combating Illegal Logging: Interaction with WTO Rules Summary: •Controlling international trade in illegal timber is an essential part of the effort to reduce illegal logging. Consumer countries are taking a range of measures including the EU's FLEGT licensing scheme and Timber Regulation, the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act, the US Lacey Act, and public procurement policies in several countries. •Since these measures are designed to alter the existing patterns of international trade in timber and timber products, concerns are often raised about their compatibility with World Trade Organization rules. •The outcome of any potential dispute case would rest on the interpretation of various clauses of the GATT and other WTO agreements, but there is no experience to date of WTO dispute cases dealing with even vaguely similar issues. •It is important to be aware of the broad constraints placed by WTO rules in designing such measures for controlling trade in illegal timber, which seem likely to be increasingly used. The more the measure diverges from the core WTO principle of non-discrimination in trade, and the more trade-disruptive it is, the more vulnerable it could be to challenge. •Within these constraints, governments have plenty of flexibility to adopt measures designed to exclude illegal timber from international trade. None of the main measures being pursued at present should experience any conflict with WTO rules. Details: London: Chatham House, 2013. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 30, 2013 at: http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/191299 Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/191299 Shelf Number: 128849 Keywords: Illegal LoggingIllegal TradeNatural ResourceOffenses Against the Environment |
Author: Tabib, Rafaa Title: Stealing the revolution: violence and predation in Libya Summary: The success of Libya's 2011 revolution has given way to political disarray, an institutional vacuum, and an extraordinary proliferation of non-state and quasi-state armed groups operating across the country. However, rather than pursuing political or ideological objectives, these groups increasingly focus on resource predation. Through an empirical study of various axes of violence in contemporary Libya, this report highlights the critical role played by criminal accumulation, land grabs, and protection rackets in the actions of tribal militias and jihadist groups, and in the fighting that has blighted one major urban hub. Whereas conventional representations of Libya's post-revolutionary period dwell on the political battle between Islamists and secular forces, the report suggests that the cause of the country’s increasing levels of armed violence can be found in the absence of a functional state and the fragmentation of local, tribal, ethnic and ideological forces, which together make the violent acquisition of material resources essential to group survival. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, 2014. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 3, 2015 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Tabib_Clingendael_NOREF_Stealing%20the%20revoulution_Violence%20and%20predation%20in%20Libya_October%202014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Libya URL: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Tabib_Clingendael_NOREF_Stealing%20the%20revoulution_Violence%20and%20predation%20in%20Libya_October%202014.pdf Shelf Number: 135869 Keywords: CrimeCriminal ViolenceNatural ResourceOffenses Against the EnvironmentRadical Groups |
Author: Hoare, Alison Title: Tackling Illegal Logging and the Related Trade: What Progress and Where Next? Summary: This report is the culmination of the multi-year 'Indicators of Illegal Logging' project, in which Chatham House has sought to monitor and understand what progress is being made in global efforts to improve forest governance and address illegal logging. The first assessment, published in 2010, presented findings from 12 countries. For the second and current assessment, which is the subject of this Chatham House report, another seven countries have been added, with individual reports on all 19 countries published in 2014-15. The countries were selected on the basis of their relative importance in the world's forest sector. The nine producer countries account for about 10 per cent of global exports of wood-based products (in roundwood equivalent [RWE] volume), while the 10 processing and consumer countries account for approximately half of all global imports of wood-based products. Details: London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2015. 79p. Source: Internet Resource: Chatham House Report: Accessed August 3, 2015 at: http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20150715IllegalLoggingHoare.pdf Year: 2015 Country: International URL: http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20150715IllegalLoggingHoare.pdf Shelf Number: 136280 Keywords: ForestsIllegal LoggingIllegal TradeNatural ResourceOffenses Against the Environment |
Author: Friends of the Earth Netherlands Title: Cana Bois: plundering protected areas in Cameroon for the European market Summary: The logging company Cana Bois has been plundering protected forest areas in Cameroon for the European timber market. This case has been researched and published in a 'log file' by Friends of the Earth Netherlands and France in June 2009. First some general information. The EU still accounts for 16 - 19% of global illegal timber imports. Illegal logging is one of the main causes of deforestation and forest degradation worldwide. Cameroon is no exception to this rule. Both the Cameronese government and European markets have taken first steps to prevent illegal logging and related trade. Within the framework of the EU FLEGT action plan, a voluntary partnership agreement is under way as well as legislation to prevent illegal timber trade. EU Member states and Cameroon have taken efforts to promote voluntary certification for sustainable forest management. However, progress is slow and illegal and destructive logging is still rife in many timber producing countries around the world. This logfile shows how unscrupulous companies continue to plunder protected areas in Cameroon for the European market with total impunity. This report describes the observations from Friends of the Earth research missions in the forest management unit of Cana Bois, nearly 34.000 hectares large and located in the Central Province of Cameroon. In the North, this forest management unit is bordered by another logging area and in the south and east by a forest reserve. In 2007, Cana Bois was given permission to log a strictly defined area of 2500 hectares within the forest management unit. During our missions we held interviews with the local population and ventured inside the forest management units and neighbouring forest reserve to record infractions. It appeared that Cana Bois had been logging outside its strictly defined area into the areas destined for next year's logging activities and outside the official boundaries deep into the forest reserve. We estimate that logging roads and paths in the forest reserve have a distance of over 150 kilometers. Cana Bois deliberately crossed a river to enter the forest reserve. Along the logging roads we found numerous abandoned logs, stumps and log parks. The timber from these illegal logging operations has been sold with the official marks from the forest management unit. This legalisation to facilitate transport and export is done by local forest control posts with hammer marks, even though they know that the timber is not coming from the forest management unit. The local population has sent a letter to the Independent Observer, Resource Extraction Monitoring, in Cameroon, asking for help and requesting a mission to establish the total impact of the infractions. This mission was prevented time after time by Cameronese government officials. Unhampered, Cana Bois has started logging operations again in 2009, showing that illegality continues to be profitable in the Cameronese logging sector. These illegal logging practices have severe impacts on the forest reserve. Amongst others, they result in forest degradation, loss of economic value of the forest, because commercially interesting species have been harvested, and they have negative impacts on the livelihoods of local people. The plundered forest is part of the Atlantic Equatorial Coastal Forests ecoregion which has exceptionally high levels of species richness and endemism. Alarmingly, Friends of the Earth has found numerous traces of poaching in the forest reserve. The roads opened up for logging make it easier for poachers and vehicles to get the meat out to nearby markets. In the harbour in Doula Friends of the Earth found piles of sawn wood from Cana Bois with destination Spain, the Netherlands and France. Cana Bois has been looting the Cameronese forests for the European market. Several companies in Cameroon have chosen the path of sustainable forest management and have invested in certification. Their business is being undermined by unscrupulous companies like Cana Bois. This flagrant case of illegal logging and related trade shows that European member states and the EU have a huge responsibility to combat illegal logging and related trade. Friends of the Earth therefore calls upon the EU ministers to step up the pace and decide on a strengthened legislative proposal to stop illegal timber trade during the Agriculture Council in June 2009. It is extremely important for the effectivity of the legislation that trade in illegal timber becomes an offence, that the scope of the applicable legislation is broadened, all timber products are included and the due diligence obligations extended to all operators placing timber and timber products on the EU market. Only with effective and strong legislation to combat illegal timber trade will the EU reduce its social and environmental footprint and will companies like Cana Bois lose their profitable illegal business. Details: Amsterdam: Friends of the Earth, 2009. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2016 at: https://milieudefensie.nl/publicaties/rapporten/cana-bois-plundering-protected-areas-in-cameroon-for-the-european-market Year: 2009 Country: Cameroon URL: https://milieudefensie.nl/publicaties/rapporten/cana-bois-plundering-protected-areas-in-cameroon-for-the-european-market Shelf Number: 147946 Keywords: DeforestationEnvironmental CrimesForestsIllegal LoggingNatural ResourceOffenses Against the Environment |
Author: Forest Trends Title: Combating Illegal Logging in Asia: A Review of Progress and the Role of the Asia Forest Partnership 2002-2012 Summary: Forests in Asia play a critical role in providing a variety of services that millions of people depend upon for their livelihoods and social stability. They also contain most of the Asia-Pacific region's terrestrial biodiversity. By the turn of the Millennium, the forests of the region, particularly in the tropics, were acknowledged to be in crisis. Deforestation and forest degradation were rising to unprecedented rates, often as a direct result of illegal activities. There was also a dawning recognition that illegal logging was not only an environment threat, but was also contributing to conflict, corruption, and disrespect for the rule of law. It was against this backdrop that the Asia Forest Partnership (AFP) was established in 2002 at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). AFP was established as a multi-stakeholder alliance to promote sustainable management of forests in the Asia-Pacific region. In practice, AFP's greatest strength turned out to be promoting dialogue and cooperation to combat illegal logging, and that is the topic upon which the Partnership largely focused. A decade of regional dialogues and other activities followed, drawing in thousands of participants, catalyzing countless partnerships on the ground, and making a significant contribution to changing the nature of dialogue and action on illegal logging. When AFP first began, governments, logging companies and environmental activists rarely sat down at one table for frank discussions on the illegal logging problem. Today, such dialogue is the norm and is a regular feature of meetings of hitherto government-only bodies such as the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), and the FAO Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission. Ten years ago, illegal logging was often characterized as a domestic law enforcement problem that was the responsibility of those countries to deal with, while those countries, companies, and consumers who processed timber and ultimately bought forest products, looked the other way with respect to the legality of the raw material. Today, consumer markets like the United States, the European Union, and Australia all have timber legality legislation in place, Indonesia has implemented its own Timber Legality Assurance System, and countries with major timber-processing and export industries, such as China and Vietnam, are working to put their own legality verification systems in place. At AFP's outset, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were very active in alerting the world to the extent and impacts of illegal logging, but had not found productive ways to engage with timber companies to change their management and trade practices. During the course of the ensuing decade, NGO-backed programs like the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN), the Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade initiative (RAFT), and the Forest Legality Alliance (FLA) have developed extensive cooperative programs with timber producers, processors, and consumers and have also played an important role in devising and disseminating practical tools to encourage legal trade in forest products. AFP cannot, of course, take sole credit for these considerable positive achievements of the past decade. AFP has, however, played an important and catalytic role. Perhaps most importantly, the multi-stakeholder approach to illegal logging that AFP pioneered has now become the "new normal" in addressing illegal logging throughout the region. This multi-stakeholder approach is now accepted and institutionalized in formal intergovernmental organizations like APEC and ITTO, trade arrangements like the EU Voluntary Partnership Agreements, and in various best practice codes of conduct adopted by the private sector. As the AFP now draws to a close, those that helped establish it and those who have been active members of the partnership have much to be proud of. The AFP set a standard from which other initiatives and partnerships can learn in the future. Details: Washington, DC: Forest Trends, 2013. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2016 at: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_3529.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Asia URL: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_3529.pdf Shelf Number: 140341 Keywords: DeforestationEnvironmental Crimes Forests Illegal Logging Natural Resource Offenses Against the Environment |
Author: Hewitt, Daphne Title: Identifying Illegality in Timber from Forest Conversion: A Review of Legality Definitions Summary: FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) aim to verify and license legal timber for export to the EU in order to create a 'market access' incentive for legal operators and countries that wish to improve forest law enforcement and governance standards. Licensing is based on a Legality Assurance System (LAS), which is underpinned by a national Legality Definition. Beginning a credible domestic stakeholder process to identify appropriate laws and detailed verifiers for compliance are necessary pre-requisites to formal bilateral negotiations with the EU. VPAs were primarily conceived of with selective logging in production forests in mind, but recent data suggests that conversion timber (timber produced when land is cleared for other uses) is increasingly important in tropical production, and in some countries may represent a significant majority of wood production. In addition, agricultural conversion is now acknowledged as the most significant cause of deforestation and is closely associated with land/tenure conflicts with local communities. Assessing the legality of conversion timber requires that compliance with both the process of permit allocation and all relevant management requirements be examined. On this basis, in the countries reviewed in detail by Forest Trends, a significant majority of the conversion timber produced appears to be illegal. This paper therefore reviews the Legality Definitions of the six counties engaged in VPA implementation, with a view to determining the potential that they offer for identifying illegality in wood sourced from conversion of forest to non-forest uses. Details: Washington, DC: Forest Trends, 2013. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 17, 2016 at: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_4150.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_4150.pdf Shelf Number: 140342 Keywords: DeforestationEnvironmental Crimes Forests Illegal Logging Natural Resource Offenses Against the Environment |
Author: Barney, Keith Title: Baseline Study 2, Lao PDR: Overview of Forest Governance, Markets and Trade Summary: Over the past decade in Lao PDR, new regulations and policies related to logging and timber exports have aimed to conserve existing natural forests and promote a shift towards participatory, sustainable forest management. Still, the main challenge will be to implement these reforms effectively. In addition, over the past five to six years, considerable foreign direct investment has moved into Laos' forest-land sector, in the form of agribusiness plantations and infrastructure development. While a welcome development from a financial perspective, this situation has promoted natural forest conversion and is challenged by a number of regulatory uncertainties. This report finds that: 1) timber sales account for roughly 12% of overall government revenue; 2) Laos' forest product export markets are dominated by Vietnam and Thailand, and Laos' main export markets in turn are significant re-exporters of manufactured forest products, to markets which increasingly require legal verification such as the USA and the European Union; 3) community land tenure and forest zoning processes need to be clarified and implemented adequately in order to safeguard local livelihoods and environmental services. Details: Washington, DC: Forest Trends, 2011. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 21, 2016 at: http://forestindustries.eu/sites/default/files/userfiles/1file/baseline_study_laos_report_en.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Laos URL: http://forestindustries.eu/sites/default/files/userfiles/1file/baseline_study_laos_report_en.pdf Shelf Number: 145615 Keywords: Deforestation Environmental Crimes Forests Illegal Logging Natural Resource Offenses Against the Environment |
Author: Transparency International Title: Analysing Corruption in the Forestry Sector Summary: Corruption - the abuse of entrusted power for private gain - undermines good governance and the rule of law. Corruption in forestry further degrades the environment, threatens rural communities and robs the public of billions of dollars each year. Transparency International (TI) is committed to a society where corruption-free forest governance and sustainable management enable increased economic development, poverty reduction and environmental protection. To help achieve this objective, TI's Forest Governance Integrity (FGI) Programme monitors the existing anti-corruption instruments that bring about the greatest improvement in the forestry sector and in good governance overall. Each country's forestry sector is unique, as are each country's anti-corruption mechanisms - its laws and the initiatives led by government, the private sector and civil society. Therefore, in order to best use their human and financial resources, civil society organisations (CSOs) must prioritise which corrupt practices to monitor. Otherwise, the temptation is to try to monitor all corrupt practices, or at least those associated with current programmes. Given the limited resources most CSOs have this would be a logistical impossibility, but perhaps more important, it is vital that activists are critically selective in choosing targets that will provide the most effective impact in the long run. This manual outlines a generic methodology for prioritising the corrupt practices that pose the greatest risk to governance - i.e. those practices that are the most likely to occur and have the greatest impact. Interviews with key experts, supplemented by publicly available data, inform the rapid risk assessment, the results of which are validated through stakeholder consultation. Based on this priority setting, it will be possible to assess more thoroughly the corrupt practices that pose the highest risk. In a second step, expert analysis and stakeholder consultation then help identify the existing anti-corruption instruments that most efficiently tackle these priority practices. These anticorruption instruments then serve as the focus for TI's forestry programme - including its monitoring, outreach and advocacy. A greater understanding of corrupt practices in the forestry sector should help focus the public and decision-makers on generating the political will needed to tackle criminal activity associated with the forestry sector - activity which in many countries drastically reduces revenues that could be used for economic development. Details: Berlin: Forest Governance Integrity Programme, Transparency International, 2010. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 24, 2018 at: https://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/analysing_corruption_in_the_forestry_sector_a_manual Year: 2010 Country: Asia URL: https://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/analysing_corruption_in_the_forestry_sector_a_manual Shelf Number: 150359 Keywords: Forest Law EnforcementForestsIllegal LoggingNatural ResourcePolitical CorruptionRisk Assessment |