European Union Timber Regulation Impact on International Timber Markets

The trade of illegal timber, often from illegal logging, has severe environmental, social and economic consequences. The EU’s response to this problem came with the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan, with its specific goal to end illegal logging, thereby improving sustainability of forest resources. In March 2013, an additional step was taken by implementing the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR). The EUTR requires proof of timber’s origin and legality to ensure that no illegal timber is imported into the EU. To this end the EU intends to block imports of any wood or wood product which comes from unknown sources. Certification of sustainable forest management will help EU importers minimize risk, which is an essential part of their required due diligence system. Monitoring organizations are established to assist trade associations and businesses to construct comprehensive due diligence systems. National competent authorities are designated to follow the trade of the new FLEGT-licensed timber and timber products. In the first year of the EUTR there are positive impacts, of which the most important is awareness of the disastrous situation with illegal logging, driven by exports of illegal timber. Another positive development is tropical timber exporters documenting the legality of their wood exports. Yet another positive feature is establishment of due diligence systems by EU importers. However, there are considerable problems for ensuring legal trade; for example the lack of comprehensive documentation of origin and legality. Analysis of recent trends establishes changes in the European timber trade in terms of sourcing, substitution, diversion to less-demanding countries. Short-term forecasts of market trends and changes will enable further policy assessment to achieve the objectives of improved legality in international timber markets.JRC.H.3-Forest Resources and Climat

Farmers' reasoning behind the uptake of agroforestry practices: evidence from multiple case-studies across Europe

Potential benefits and costs of agroforestry practices have been analysed by experts, but few studies have captured farmers’ perspectives on why agroforestry might be adopted on a European scale. This study provides answers to this question, through an analysis of 183 farmer interviews in 14 case study systems in eight European countries. The study systems included high natural and cultural value agroforestry systems, silvoarable systems, high value tree systems, and silvopasture systems, as well as systems where no agroforestry practices were occurring. A mixed method approach combining quantitative and qualitative approaches was taken throughout the interviews. Narrative thematic data analysis was performed. Data collection proceeded until no new themes emerged. Within a given case study, i.e. the different systems in different European regions, this sampling was performed both for farmers who practice agroforestry and farmers who did not. Results point to a great diversity of agroforestry practices, although many of the farmers are not aware of the term or concept of agroforestry, despite implementing the practice in their own farms. While only a few farmers mentioned eligibility for direct payments in the CAP as the main reason to remove trees from their land, to avoid the reduction of the funded area, the tradition in the family or the region, learning from others, and increasing the diversification of products play the most important role in adopting or not agroforestry systems

Reduction of Bi(III) from highly concentrated perchloric acid

435-438In highly concentrated HClO4 solutions (≥ 8 mol dm-3) the reduction of Bi(III) at dropping mercury electrode is reversible due to the low concentration of free water molecules. The mechanism of reduction which includes the formation of an adion: Bi(OH2) + Hg ;Bi(OH2) (Hg)s + H2O is proposed. Formation of the adion is prompted by the adsorption of the Cl- ion at the mercury surface: Bi(OH2) + Hg Bi(OH2)(Hg)s + CI(Hg)s. The highest coordination number of Bi3+ for the Cl- anion is 6

Mapping policy actor networks and their interests in the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement in Lao PDR

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European Union Timber Regulation Impacts Global Hardwood Markets

Implemented in March 2013, the EU Timber Regulation is affecting hardwood exporters and importers. The EUTR requires proof of timber’s origin and legality to ensure that no illegal timber is imported into the EU. The EUTR is part of the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan, with its specific goal to end illegal logging, thereby improving sustainability of forest resources. To this end the EU intends to block imports of any wood or wood product which comes from unknown sources. Certification of SFM will help EU importers minimize risk, which is an essential part of their required due diligence system. Monitoring organizations are established to assist trade associations and businesses to construct comprehensive due diligence systems. National competent authorities are designated to follow the trade of the new FLEGT-licensed timber and timber products. In 2013, the first year of the EUTR, there are positive impacts, of which the most important is awareness of the disastrous situation with illegal logging, driven by exports of illegal timber. Another positive development is tropical timber exporters documenting the legality of their wood exports. Yet another positive feature is establishment of due diligence systems by EU importers. However, there are considerable problems to ensuring legal trade. For example, China exports primary- and secondary-processed hardwood products to Europe, based on imported logs which most often do not have comprehensive documentation of their origin and legality. Other problems exist too, and the implementation of the EUTR may eventually be defined similar to the US Lacey Act Amendment, i.e. by the courts of law.JRC.H.3-Forest Resources and Climat

International trade of the NWFP: any opportunity for the Italian forest sector?

The Italian forests, traditionally managed for wood production, need to tackle today a demand of good and services considered as secondary outputs by the forest manager. The Italian forest sector showed an increasing role of the of the non-wood forest products (NWFP), considered raw material in other sectors like food, floral green and chemical industries. The scarce attention to the production of non-wood forest products in the forest, the complex legal system linked to the harvesting rights and the increment of the use of such products by the industries, have pushed the companies to import raw materials from the international market with favourable quantities and prices. Moreover, in Italy, NWFP have been transformed in functional goods sold to the final users as recreational services inside the forest, instead of as commodities. Wild mushrooms, truffles, berries, nuts, resins, cork, tannins, and ornamental green are the most frequently traded NWFP toward and from Italy; country that covers a key role in the import and processing of several NWFP; the import and processing of the tannin for leather tanning, or cork for stopper and cork panel production or the processing of fresh and dried mushrooms for national and international market are examples of products that let Italy become a leader in the international market. The paper describes the economic volume and quantities of the more traded NWFP from and to Italy, calculated through the analysis of international trade data reported in COMTRADE

Analysis and relationships between Forest ecosystem Services supply and demand, and Innovative mechanisms across Europe

This deliverable summarizesthe results from the analysis relating forest ecosystem services and innovative mechanism across Europe, undertaken in task 1.2, in WP1. This analysis was carried outthrough two separated Pan-European surveys, which make up the core of this document. In the first survey, forest owners and managers across Europe were asked to state currentsupply and demand of forest ecosystem services in their forests, and whether or not there has been any type innovation in their forest in the last decades. The results provide a detailedoverview of the interplay between supply, demand and innovation in European forest for eleven forest ecosystem services, covering provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. In the second Pan-European survey, an especial emphasis was given to cultural ecosystem services. In particular, forest owners and managers across Europe were asked about current and potential supply of cultural ecosystem services in European forests, and about which are the mechanism that could be implementedto further promote them. This analysis identifies the different pathways and strategies to encouragea multifunctional use of the forest depending on the context-related characteristics of the social-ecological system in which the forest is located

Status quo of data collection methodologies on bioeconomy and recommendations

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