More needs to be done by the EU to ensure timber is sustainably managed in West Africa, a new report adopted by the European Parliament reads.
Specifically, the report calls on the European Commission (EC) to implement “comprehensive legislation” preventing the sale and trade of illegally sourced timber on the European market.
This, it claims, would prevent the destabilisation of internal markets and help safeguard tax revenues for producer countries as 80% of the timber and fish produced in West Africa is exported to the EU.
It recommends that member states and the EC “respond favourably to requests to finance sustainable forest management initiatives”, and quickly adopt a green public procurement policy.
