The European Union, United Kingdom and Sweden have contributed a combined $30 million to support the next phase of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Programme (FLEGT), which gives sustainable forestry products producers in foreign companies easier access to the European timber market, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The EU contributed $18 million; the UK, $7.25 million; and Sweden, $5.3 million.
"Thanks to global initiatives like FLEGT, illegal timber production has declined by an estimated 22 percent since 2002," said René Castro Salazar, FAO assistant director-general for forestry, in a statement. "The new FLEGT phase offers an important opportunity for lesson sharing across sectors, as it has become increasingly clear that broad partnerships are and will be needed to achieve the global impact that is necessary to reduce forest loss, food vulnerability and mitigate climate change."
The next phase of FLEGT, set to run through 2020, involves facilitating great collaboration with big and small private-sector entities in producer and consumer countries to make producing legal timber easier. The program will focus on enterprises in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia.
