The European timber trade is preparing a £3.5m EC funding application to help deliver a programme aimed at promoting the sourcing of legal timber into the market place.
A total of seven timber organisations, including the European Timber Trade Federation, the European Panels Federation and the UK Timber Trade Federation, will make the EC funding bid on Feburary 23 in Brussels.
The programme, a response to the EC’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan, will include measures in both consumer and producer countries.
It will use the EU‘s market power and a package of technical support to encourage suppliers in developing countries to raise their standards of forest management to verified legal and, eventually, sustainable levels.
The ultimate objective is to re-establish timber as the sustainable material of choice.
