In 2005 WWF received 5 year funding from the European Commission for a project to support Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) for legal and sustainable forest management in Africa and Asia. This project aims to promote the conservation and sustainable management of tropical forests, by assisting developing countries to improve governance of their forest resources whilst directly contributing to the implementation of the EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).

The whole project was split up in 5 parts. ProForest was partner for 2 parts of this work which ran for 3 years and focused on four of the partner countries: China, Vietnam, Ghana and Central Africa (Gabon/Cameroon). The two parts were:

• production of regional practical guides on stepwise certification, timber tracking and responsible timber sourcing;
• strengthening of capacity of the auditors, producers and users of forest products and technical specialists.

For the first part of the project ProForest produced a series of practical guides and two draft national interpretations for High Conservation Values for Ghana and Gabon. The outputs of the latter part of the project is a series of training material that will be used by WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network.

The practical guides are available below, as are the general introduction and the regional introductions to Africa and Asia.

Introduction and methodology

Africa

Regional introduction

Stepwise Certification: A Practical Guide

Responsible Timber Sourcing in Central and Western Africa: A Practical Guide

Asia

Regional Introduction

Stepwise Certification: A Practical Guide

Responsible Timber Sourcing in China and Southeast Asia: A Practical Guide