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Bandar Seri Begawan
- The Forestry
Department yesterday
held a Technical
Discussion Session
on Asean Criteria
and Indicators for
Legality of Timber
and Chain of Custody
Guidelines for Legal
Timber and
Sustainable Timber
at the Kiulap Plaza
Hotel.
The objective was to
discuss and finalise
the Asean Criteria
and Indicators for
Legality of Timber
to be considered in
the Meeting of the
working group on a
Pan Asean Timber
Certification
Initiative and the
Chain of Custody
Guidelines for Legal
Timber and (ii)
Sustainable Timber.
The working group
for a Pan Asean
Timber Certification
Initiative aims to
fulfill the target
set in ABC blueprint
and to support
step-by-step
approach towards
Sustainable Forest
Management (SFM).
The meeting started
with an opening
speech delivered by
the Deputy Director
of Forestry; Mr
Mahmud Hj Yussof.
In his speech, he
said, "To ensure the
achievement of SFM,
we started out by
formulating our
national forest
policy in 1989 and
setting an ambitious
target of
designating and
managing 55 per cent
of our landmass to
be gazetted under
the Forest Reserve
legislatively
protected by the
Forest Act.
"Strengthening the
policy and legal
framework is the
first priority and
under His Majesty's
strong leadership,
we managed to
strengthen the
national networks,"
he added.
Mr Dian Sutmajaya
from the Asean
Secretariat said
that millions of
people in the region
depend primarily on
forests for their
livelihood, as well
as forest exports
and trade have
contributed
significantly to the
economic development
in the past and have
the potential to
continue to do so in
the future.
Since its
establishment in
2002, the working
group has met seven
times and in 2006,
the group agreed on
the principles of
the phased-approach
to forest
certification (PACs)
as well as to six
elements to be
included in the
regional timber
legality standard.
During the 7th
meeting of the
working group in
Myanmar, organising
a technical
discussion session
on Asean Criteria
and Indicators (C &
I) for Legality
Timber and Chain of
Custody guideline
for legal Timber and
sustainable timber
had been
recommended.
Brunei will be
hosting the 8th
working group
meeting on April 8-9
in Bandar Seri
Begawan. The agreed
documents and
guidelines from the
meeting will pave
the way to develop
national timber
legality standard in
each country
verification system
and related
guidelines.
The development of
national
verification will
help to further
develop Asean's
forestry sector by
improving
performance
standards and
ensuring access of
timber exports to
important
international
markets such as
Europe and the
United States.
The working group on
a Pan-Asean Timber
Certification
Initiative will work
closely with various
partners and donor
agencies to conduct
the needed capacity
building activities
and to support the
holistic goal of
sustainable forest
management in Asean
region.
-- Courtesy of
The Borneo Bulletin |
