In late September, the Deputy Secretary-General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), and the Institute of Asian American Environmental Law at the Vermont Law School, Forest Trends as well as other representatives exchanged views on how to promote ecological civilization through standardized timber import and export trade. On this basis, Ms. Lizzie Parsons, Head of Global Witness China Program, and project staff Mr. Liang Yu visited the CBCGDF yesterday and discussed this very important topic.

This is the second time that Ms. Parsons came to the CBCGDF office. In January 2018, Ms. Parsons had a discussion with the Secretary-General of CBCGDF on related topics.

In August 2018, Global Witness and CBCGDF shared a new report, which showed that illegal logging in some countries is closely related to the impact of Chinese forestry and international reputation.

China is not a big country in timber production, but as a major country in the processing and consumption of wood products, China's current laws and regulations on timber import are still not perfect, making China's timber trade extremely vulnerable to the international situation and public opinion. Therefore, it is easy to put Chinese companies under commercial risks due to illegal logging of timber from other countries in the world.

Strengthening the management of China's timber import trade will help China further assume international responsibility, participate in global governance, and effectively promote the smooth implementation of China's "Belt and Road" Initiative.

This time with Ms. Parsons' visit, the Deputy Secretary-General of the CBCGDF introduced the previous discussion regarding timber import and proposed the idea that the international trade in the timber field is closely related to the “Belt and Road” Initiative and global climate change, which has always been the focus of the CBCGDF. CBCGDF also hopes to actively promote the positive aspects of all parties concerned. Ms. Parsons said that global climate change has a very close relationship with illegal timber harvesting, and ending the global illegal timber trade is part of the solution. Data shows that up to 30% of the timber traded globally is illegal, and in some countries up to 90% of logging activity is illegal.

The Deputy Secretary-General of the CBCGDF also shared some of the previous work experience with the Global Witness, as well as CBCGDF's work in the field of pangolin protection and the Green China “Cultural Protection System”.

On the basis of thorough exchanges, the two sides indicated that they will further explore the topic of timber.

(Photo: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4937/6373.html

By / Shuya