European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, and Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat today signed a legally binding agreement to promote the sustainable trade of legal timber to the European Union (EU). The pact was signed at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15) in Montreal, Canada.
Jan Dusík, Deputy Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic, and the EU presidency of the Council, co-signed the agreement.
The agreement will give EU-based timber buyers assurance that timber products from Guyana are legal. It will also help improve forest governance, further curb illegal logging and promote trade in verified legal timber products.
This cooperation takes place in the context of the EU Global Gateway strategy which stands for sustainable and trusted connections. Global Gateway is also tackling the most pressing global challenges, including fighting climate change and supporting the security of global supply chains.
Through the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) Guyana will have to improve market access to EU businesses, as well as modernise its forestry sector, create jobs, promote sustainable development, and protect the rights of indigenous peoples.
Under the VPA, Guyana commits to developing a timber legality assurance system to assess that timber products -for all stages of the supply chain- have been produced in accordance with national legislation. When this system is operational, Guyana can issue verified legal timber products with FLEGT licences.
Guyana is also the first country in the Amazon region to sign a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on forest law enforcement, governance, and trade (FLEGT) with the European Union.
With the signing of this agreement, Guyana and the EU each needed to ratify the VPA, according to their respective procedures. Forest stakeholders as the private sector, indigenous peoples, local communities, and civil society, have all been closely involved in the negotiation of the agreement, alongside the Government and EU representatives. They will continue to play a key role throughout the implementation phase.
This bilateral agreement will advance the integrated planning and management of Guyana’s forest sector under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.
HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
The signature event marks the end of a 10-year negotiation process. It consolidates Guyana’s position as a frontrunner in the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of forests. Under the EU Global Gateway Strategy, Guyana is also one of the first five countries worldwide that signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a Forest Partnership with the EU at COP 27 a month ago.
Guyana has already robust national legislation on forests, including a Forest Code, and the VPA will ensure this is duly enforced, guaranteeing the sustainable management of the country’s enormous forest area and thus protecting biodiversity. It will also help to improve the competitiveness of Guyana’s timber industry by modernising timber operations.
This, in turn, will create jobs and ensure that forestry brings employment to the formal economy while expanding trade opportunities as Guyana moves to export guaranteed legal timber products.
Guyana is the second country in Latin America to sign a VPA with the EU under the FLEGT Action Plan, following Honduras.
