The EU has been at the forefront of the fight against illegal
logging. A 2016 independent evaluation of its Forest Law
Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan
(including its Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) and
the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR)) found that it helps promote
legal timber, improves governance and increases forest
dependent communities’ rights. The European Commission’s
2018-2023 FLEGT Workplan provides an important roadmap,
but it has not been made public so stakeholders cannot yet
monitor progress.

The EU must strengthen FLEGT’s implementation by
ensuring adequate financial and political support.
It must also go beyond illegal logging, looking at forest
destruction caused by large-scale agriculture, mining, and
agricultural development. We urge the EU to build on
governance gains from existing VPAs for timber in order
to halt deforestation and human rights abuses caused
by forest risk commodities.