Ambassador Christophe Guilhou, Co-Facilitator of the CBFP for France, speaks at the 2023 The Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum 2023

The 2023 World Forum on Legal and Sustainable Timber, organised by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), was held in Macau, China, from 21 to 22 November 2023. Under the theme "Connect, cooperate and share to promote the recovery of the global tropical timber market", the aim of the Forum was to intensify networking, collaboration and business-to-business exchanges between stakeholders in the forestry and timber sector, i.e. producers, buyers, the processing industry and market players, with a view to promoting sustainable forest management.

 

More specifically, the aim was to establish supply chains for legally and sustainably sourced timber products, facilitate employment and trade in legally and sustainably sourced timber products within a stable, transparent and predictable business environment, and contribute to sustainable development and climate change mitigation.

 

Ambassador Christophe Guilhou, Co-Facilitator for the Republic of France of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), addressed the Forum.

 

In his speech, the CBFP Co-Facilitator illustrated the ways in which the Congo Basin Forest Partnership contributes to and promotes the sustainable use and management of forests.

 

He emphasised that the partnership is an essential platform for improving regional dialogue between all the stakeholders in a vital forest area: the Congo Basin. It enables governments, regional organisations, civil society and the private sector to exchange and cooperate on solutions for better protection and sustainable use of forest ecosystems.

 

For the next two years, France and Gabon, as Co-Facilitators of the CBFP, have identified 5 priorities: the development of scientific research, the promotion of sustainable management and value chains, the promotion of the Congo Basin's visibility at international level and the promotion of dialogue with the region's main institutional and commercial partners, in particular China. This last priority is also one of the reasons for my participation in this Forum, and I would like to thank the organisers once again for giving me the opportunity to address the Chinese private sector directly.

 

Ambassador Christophe Guilhou stressed the importance for France, the European Union and other wood-importing countries such as China to work together to develop and implement measures to guarantee the traceability of wood and avoid importing goods that could cause deforestation. It is in everyone's interest to implement value chains that ensure that natural resources are used sustainably and will be available for future generations. In the long term, the cost of inaction will be even higher.

 

For these measures to be effective, the CBFP Co-Facilitator calls on all parties to work closely with exporting countries and the business community, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, as implementing compliance and traceability measures can be costly. They can only be effective if these stakeholders are involved from the outset.

 

Ambassador Christophe Guilhou also stressed the need to provide capacity-building and technical assistance to these stakeholders to ensure that the legislation adopted in importing countries is properly implemented.

 

France will support its partners in developing countries in tackling these new constraints, said Mr Guilhou, while hoping that the forum will also help to identify solutions to help local businesses and communities.

 

The Congo Basin Forest Partnership will also focus on thematic areas such as transhumance and the fight against environmental crime, which also have an impact on the timber trade. Criminal activities are a major threat to forests, biodiversity and international and regional security. The revenue generated by these illegal activities is a major source of funding for organised crime and terrorist groups. These activities also pose a threat to the private sector, as they can jeopardise the activities of local businesses and increase pressure on natural resources. By its very nature, this threat transcends national borders and therefore requires greater regional cooperation, particularly in the countries of the Congo Basin where illegal logging and deforestation are on the increase.

 

The CBFP's Co-Facilitator hopes that the partnership will continue to provide a platform for governments and civil society actors to identify new ways of preventing and deterring these activities, with a view to better protecting those who are fighting to defend the environment, as well as companies.

 

For more information, please download below the speech given by Ambassador Christophe Guilhou, Co-Facilitator of the Republic of France for the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) at the Forum.Download the speech made by Ambassador Christophe Guilhou, Co-Facilitator for France of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) at the Forum.

 

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