Civil society explains how the EU can help protect forests and forest people rights

Around the world, about 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their survival. And yet, in 2017 alone, global tropical forests lost 15.8 millions of hectares of tree cover – an area the equivalent of Bangladesh.

To halt illegal logging and deforestation, the EU needs to strengthen the FLEGT process AND it needs to go hand in hand with an EU Action Plan to Protect Forest and Respect Rights.

Civil society representatives from Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon, Congo and Vietnam made the journey to Europe to relate their experiences, successes, challenges and lessons learned from FLEGT and VPAs (Voluntary Partnership Agreements) to curb the trade in illegal logging.

From Brussels to The Hague via Bonn and Paris, our partners met with representatives of national goverments and EU decision makers in the hope of moving forward. They were also warmly welcomed by Heidi Hautala, Vice President of the European Parliament and great contributor in the fight to protect forests.