One of the criticisms of the Lacey Act, which was amended in 2008 to ban importation of illegally logged wood, is that its "due care" requirement is vague, potentially putting wood products importers at risk of criminal liabilities. To help fix that problem, the Forest Legality Alliance and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) have partnered to create the Forest Legality Risk Information Tool, which was launched June 27.
One of the criticisms of the Lacey Act, which was amended in 2008 to ban importation of illegally logged wood, is that its "due care" requirement is vague, potentially putting wood products importers at risk of criminal liabilities. To help fix that problem, the Forest Legality Alliance and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) have partnered to create the Forest Legality Risk Information Tool, which was launched June 27.
Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the nonprofit NGO Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the tool "will make it easier and cheaper to examine forest product supply chains and improve transparency in the marketplace," said Adam Grant, a senior associate with the World Resources Institute, which was also involved in creating the tool. "We are pleased to be working with SFI and other partners to raise awareness and equip participants in forest product supply chains with practical, interactive and freely accessible tools so they can exercise due care and keep illegally harvested forest products out of the market."
The tool is currently in beta form, meaning its full functionality has yet to be developed. It currently lists laws, production status, transparency indicators, CITES information and contacts for six lumber-producing countries: China, Brazil, Gabon, Honduras, Peru and Vietnam. "Because this is an enormously complicated issue, the Risk Information Tool is a work in progress. We hope to add between eight and 10 countries, and about 50 species, per year," according to the Overview of Risk Tool. All the information presented in the tool is the responsibility of the World Resources Institute and EIA.
For Gabon, for example, the tool lists the country's Forest Code and calls attention to multiple sections in the code that are relevant to importers; however, it cautions that there are other laws not listed on the website that affect compliance. Also, the tool lists relevant laws for processing/manufacturing, trade and taxes, as well as Gabon's relevant CITES information: "Gabon ratified and became a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1989. Currently, no Gabonese commercial timber species are listed in an appendix to CITES, meaning that the export of species grown in Gabon should not be subject to additional CITES-related permits."
Under the Transparency link, the tool explains Gabon received a score of 3.0 out of 10 for government transparency, "meaning it is perceived to have relatively high levels of corruption. It ranked 100 out of 183 countries assessed [in 2011]."
