Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum's (APEC) Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade (EGILAT) incorporated the preventive approach proposed by Peru to combat illegal logging.
According to State-run National Forest and Wildlife Service (
Serfor) Executive-Director John Leigh, the decision was taken at the
13th EGILAT Meeting, held last February in Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea).
During his participation, Leigh presented the Inca country's efforts on sustainable management of forests, as well as coordination between institutions and authorities to prevent and
tackle illegal logging.
At the gathering, a proposal for the Multiannual Strategic Plan 2018-2022 was also drawn up, which will be submitted at the next APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) for approval.
The international event featured representatives of Interpol, Forest Trends, plus the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
It must be noted Peru suggested this preventive approach —for the first time— at the
EGILAT Meeting held in Lima in August 2017.
Said event saw the presence of economic representatives from Australia, Canada, Chile, South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, China, Russia, Taipei, and the United States.
APEC member countries —which participated in the recent
EGILAT meeting— agreed to organize a workshop in Chile in 2019, with the purpose of increasing knowledge about tools successfully implemented in the prevention and fight against illegal logging, as well as associated trade.
Said gathering will be supported by Papua New Guinea, Peru, and —probably— the United States.
(END) NDP/CCR/JAA/MVB
Published: 3/15/2018