Civil Society in Russia and ENA FLEGCivil Society in Russia and ENA FLEG
Dr. Evgeny Shvarts
WWF Russia / Director of Conservation Policy
21 February 2005
Role of Conservation NGOs
Civil Society: Main Players in Civil Society: Main Players in ENA FLEGENA FLEG
Conservation NGOs
Social NGOs
Business
NGO Vision on ENA FLEG: NGO Vision on ENA FLEG: Essential Principles of Success Essential Principles of Success 1. Analysis of successes and weakness of
previous FLEG processes (Asia, Africa)
2. Involving civil society into preparation and development of ENA FLEG process.
3. Realization of Action Plan after Ministerial Conference under control of civil society
Problems in Russian Forestry: Problems in Russian Forestry: Forest Governance and LegislationForest Governance and Legislation
1. Lack of clearly structured legally-binding forest policies and strategies to generate nation-wide long-term benefits.
2. Inadequate and weak institutional framework
3. Utilitarian and non-economics based (oriented only to volume of timber) approach to forest resource use.
4. High level of corruption and lack of transparency in decision making processes
EU FLEGT and NGOs:Joint Documents
Letter to President Romano Prodi Subject: European Commission Measures to Combat Illegal Timber Trade
Green groups draft EU legislation to outlaw illegal wood imports
PRINCIPLES FOR FLEGT PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS
FERN, Greenpeace and WWF comments on the draft Council Regulation concerning the establishment of a voluntary FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community
Etc.
EU FLEGT and NGOs: Joint Statement
SIGNATURES:
165 NGOs
22 INDIVIDUALS
CONTROLING TIMBER IMPORTS INTO THE EUJOINT NGO STATEMENT
Russia: National Conservation NGOsRussia: National Conservation NGOs
Elaboration of Joint Position on
ENA FLEG
ЭКОДАЛЬ
NGO Planned Actions: NGO Planned Actions: Civil Society InvolvementCivil Society Involvement
1. Seminar in St.Petersburg 21-23 February
2. Seminar in Khabarovsk, 2-4 March
“Forest business and ENA FLEG”Moscow, 23 March
NGO Planned Actions: NGO Planned Actions: Informational supportInformational support
http://fleg.forest.ru
http://www.wwf.ru/about/what_we_do/forests/flegt/
NGO Planned Actions: NGO Planned Actions: Highlighting ProblemsHighlighting Problems
3-4 Publication on illegal logging and related issues in several regions of Russia
Spring issue of “Sustainable Forestry” magazine will be dedicated ENA FLEG
Conservation NGOs Conservation NGOs Major Points of Concern: Major Points of Concern:
• Civil society and NGO involvement in ENA FLEG process
• Existence of an effective national forest guard service on the local level
• Transparency and public access to information
• Public (stakeholders, local population and NGOs) involvement into decision making process in forest management practice
• Execution of existing legal environmental requirements (EIA, etc) in practice
WWF Vision: Priority PointsWWF Vision: Priority Points• Development and legal adoption of National Forest Policy to ensure SFM•Provide legal and economic incentives to move part of state responsibilities to forest lease holders (through voluntary forest certification, tracing systems, etc)
•Agree international measures to ensure that effective actions be undertaken to clean the supply chain from timber products of illegal or suspicious origins
•Unify the ENA-FLEG terminology (illegal logging, illegal timber trade, etc.), timber measurement methods and qualitative parameters meant for customs processing
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