The European Union (EU) and Indonesia have reached an agreement to help reduce the trade of illegal timber in European markets. The Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) permits only legally felled timber from Indonesia to be traded in the EU; the deal will govern about $1 billion in annual timber trading.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a U.K.-based NGO, called the deal a "massive blow to the timber barons who have long been ransacking Indonesia's precious rainforests." The deal will be signed in Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 5.
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