{"id":517,"date":"2016-01-01T15:14:26","date_gmt":"2016-01-01T14:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.etifor.com\/?p=517"},"modified":"2021-01-29T16:02:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T15:02:34","slug":"promoting-the-production-of-legal-timber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etifor.com\/en\/portfolio\/promoting-the-production-of-legal-timber\/","title":{"rendered":"Promoting the production of legal timber<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

The problem
\n<\/strong>The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is, until now, one of the six countries that have signed Voluntary Partnership Agreements with the EU under the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Action Plan (FLEGT). The provinces of North Kivu and Ituri (East DRC) host the impressive tropical rainforests of iroko and valuable species that have long been subjected to continuous degradation, accentuated by longstanding regional conflicts. Continuous and often uncontrolled small-scale harvesting gradually erode the forest resource and foster illegal streams of timber exported at low prices.<\/p>\n

The solution
\n<\/strong>DURAFOR-EST aims to encourage the organization of small forest enterprises, to facilitate the\u00a0 collaboration with the local forestry industry and to support the creation of opportunities and market outlets for timber of legal origin while meeting the defined quality standards. Legality, good forest management, small businesses, good governance, innovation, market opportunities are among the challenges and issues we face with.<\/p>\n

The activities
\n<\/strong>DURAFOR-EST, the pilot project to support the forestry sector in the eastern DRC (North Kivu and Ituri province) to promote legal timber production, is co-funded by the EU FLEGT<\/a>\u00a0Program of FAO and co-ordinated by ACS-DRC with the support of Etifor. It aims to encourage the production of legal timber in the area of intervention through the development of different forms of cooperation and partnerships between small-scale local forestry enterprises and the ENRA – the only industrial company holding forestry concessions in the area.<\/p>\n

Such forms of collaboration include:<\/p>\n