International spotlight on policy

Bob Andrew, the Government official responsible for the timber procurement policy, recently gave a presentation on the UK Government’s timber procurement policy at the Chatham House Illegal logging update.

His co-panellists were Christian Lundmark Jensen from Denmark, and Alison Watson from New Zealand, who gave updates on the development of their timber respective Government’s timber procurement policies. The UK and Denmark, along with the Netherlands, have committed to working towards harmonisation, and have had ongoing discussions for the past few years. Currently, the definition of legal sources is harmonised between the countries.

The UK Government’s special representative on forestry, Barry Gardiner (formerly the Minister responsible for the timber procurement policy), also spoke about the timber procurement policy, putting in to context the recent announcement of the planned policy change in 2009.

The Chatham House Illegal Logging Update is a key international forum (held bi-annually) in the global logging debate, and draws delegates from all over the world, including those from Governments, Environmental and Social NGOs, trade, industry.