FLEGT Independent Market Monitoring project moves forward

The new lead consultant Sarah Storck and IMM Market and Technical Analyst Rupert Oliver are finalizing the IMM 2015/2016 Annual Reports and expanding its international network of correspondents.

An IMM website and newsletters are also under development. IMM monitors the timber trade and market impact of FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) in supplier partner countries and the European Union (EU) against a range of indicators.

First outputs will include the IMM Baseline Report, analysing VPA partner timber production from 2004-2014, plus VPA partner trade flows to the EU and elsewhere during the period.

Initial market scoping studies covered VPA partner country Ghana, Germany, Spain and the UK.

All IMM-related reports and data are currently available on the ITTO website (www.itto.int) IMM activities this year will include analysis of VPA partner trade flows in 2015 and 2016 and follow-up market monitoring in Germany, Ghana, Spain and the UK.

In addition there will be scoping studies for Indonesia, Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Particular focus is on Indonesia as the first country to deliver FLEGT-licensed wood products to the EU, while the seven EU countries being covered by IMM account for around 90% of EU tropical wood product imports from VPA countries.

IMM is a multi-year project supervised by the ITTO and financed by the EU to support implementation of VPAs between the EU and timber supplying countries.

VPAs are a key element of the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan, which defines the EU’s policy to promote legal logging and trade in legally licensed timber.

The positions for IMM country correspondents in Indonesia, Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands are currently open for application.

For more details visit www.itto.int/calls_proposals/id=5100