Domestic tropical timber markets: informal, illegal and unsustainable?

www.cifor.org/pro-formal

Domestic tropical timber markets: informal, illegal and unsustainable?

Paolo Omar Cerutti and Xiaoxue Weng

The biggest ‘private sector’: what place for the informal economy in green and inclusive growth?

This presentation has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union, the UKAID-funded KnowFOR (Forestry Knowledge) program and the CGIAR research program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA)

What are we talking about?12Challenges (and opportunities)

Who are they?1

Who are they?

Who they are NOT

Challenges and opportunities2

The ‘invisible’ production

Opportunities (for smallholders)

Why can’t they have a permit?

Simple, cheap, decentralised (and seek convergence between legal and legitimate), but based on knowledge of the resource

Country Available permits Current situation

Cameroon Timber exploitation permit Suspended 1999-2006; Volumes not adapted; Prohibitively expensive

Gabon Discretionary permit Suspended

Congo Special permit Suspended in parts of the country; Not attributed in others

DRC Artisanal Exploitation Permit

Suspended in parts of the country; Delivered for wrong objectives; Incomplete regulation

CAR Artisanal Exploitation Permit

No implementing regulation

Ghana Chainsaw milling Suspended since 1998

Liberia Chainsaw milling / PUPs ‘Considered illegal’ / Suspended

‘The biggest challenge is to overcome the inability of governments to stimulate legal trade…’

[Costs to chainsaw millers]

Opportunities (for state officials)

Examples of real situations todayMr Sulthon Mohammad Amin, Jepara small-scale furniture association, Indonesia

Mr Gustav Adu, Kumasi Wood Cluster Association, Ghana

GRACIASOBRIGADO

TERIMA KASIHMERCI谢谢

THANK YOU