The last-minute exemption of 15 product groups from Indonesia’s timber legality verification system threatens to block EU market access for these products, to delay or sabotage a long-negotiated EU-Indonesia timber trade agreement and undermine Indonesia’s forest industry reputation, NGOs have warned
The clear-cutting of forests to make way for oil palm plantations is driving a wave of illegal logging in Indonesia, fundamentally undermining efforts to bring much-needed reform to the nation’s forestry and timber sectors
As Asia’s first-ever Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) to combat illegal logging was signed into law, the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) cautioned that it would also serve as a test of official resolve to stamp out serious corruption in Indonesia’s forest sector