TREES Project and WildLeaks Together for Fighting Illegal Logging and Trade

Combatting illegal logging and trade within the European Union is the focus of an agreement signed between the NGO Elephant Action League and the partners of the EU TREES project – organizations focused on fighting wildlife and forest crime.

The agreement, which will last until the end of the TREES Project in April 2016, will enable the TREES Project partners to make use of the Elephant Action League-funded WildLeaks whistleblower platform.

WildLeaks will receive anonymous information related to any forest crime, such as illicit timber extraction, log laundering, illegal timber transport and trade, forest products tax fraud, etc., through its secure platform, after which the information will be processed by project researchers.

According to Global Financial Integrity, a Washington watchdog group, wildlife and forest crime is the fourth largest transnational crime in the world, worth an estimate US$ 17 billion annually, after narcotics, counterfeiting and human trafficking (Transnational Crime In The Developing World, 2011). However, for most countries, combating wildlife and forest crime is not a priority and almost always remains overlooked and poorly understood. Wildlife offences enrich international criminal groups and enable corruption to flourish.

Fraud, counterfeiting, money laundering and violence are often found in combination with various forms of wildlife crime, and while the risk involved is low compared to other kinds of trafficking, the profits are nevertheless very high.

It is these priorities that formed the focus of the Partnership Agreement implementation plan containing the required actions by both parties.

The access to WildLeaks portal is assured by WildLeaks project at http://wildleaks.org/ and by TREES project partners via the TREES website.

WildLeaks is a secure and anonymous platform for wildlife and forest crime whistleblowers. Its goal is to create a safe, secure and anonymous online platform for individuals to send information about wildlife crime. The tips are then used for on-the-ground action. The WildLeaks project is funded by the California-based NGO Elephant Action League.

The TREES project is a 20 month transnational project aiming at enforcing the EU Timber Regulation implementation as an instrument to fight corruption as facilitator of organized crime activities. The project, funded by the Internal Affairs DG of the European Commission as part of the ISEC Program (Prevention of and Fight against Crime), is developed by Conlegno, PEFC Italy, RiSSC, Risk Monitor and CNVP, and supported by a range of partners including INTERPOL, PEFC International and several PEFC National members.
http://pefc.org/news-a-media/general-sfm-news/1907-trees-project-and-wildleaks-together-for-fighting-illegal-logging-and-trade

Related Posts

Japan forum champions power of certification

Hosted in Tokyo on 24 June, the SGEC/PEFC Forest Certification Forum commemorated our 20th anniversary and celebrated the enduring role of forest certification in improving the social and environmental conditions of the world’s forests. The Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC) is our PEFC national member for Japan. For Japan, as for the rest of the world, consumers and industry alike are increasingly demanding the materials they use and buy are certified as originating from sustainably managed forests. The country is therefore experiencing a rising interest and demand for the certification of its forests. “With the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games approaching, the PEFC endorsement of the Japanese forest certification system means this, and other construction projects, can benefit from certified timber, provided locally through SGEC,” said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC International CEO. Click Read More below for additional information.

Two Sides Responds to Misleading Claims about the Sustainability of Paper Products in Popular Science

Myths about the sustainability of the North American paper industry and its products are common media fodder in today’s world of sensationalized, headline-driven journalism. This time it was the turn of Popular Science to weave together a collection of standard anti-paper tropes into your “Modern paper use is wildly unsustainable” article. Shouldn’t a publication dedicated to reporting on science resist the easy narrative, hold up a submission to the illuminating glow of real authoritative data and pick up the phone to ask industry scientists or a school of forestry if any of what the authors claim makes sense? After all, paper is not only the most recycled material in North America. It is a material whose industry grows and regrows its own feedstock (wood fiber), derives most of the power to drive its processes from carbon neutral biofuel, and recycles more than 95% of the chemicals it uses to turn trees into pulp. This is not “wildly unsustainable.” This is a description of some of the world’s most sustainable products.

The PEFC family continues to grow!

“We were delighted to welcome three new national members to the PEFC Alliance during our General Assembly”, said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International, as Macedonia, Romania and Thailand became the latest countries to join PEFC. “In fact, this year has been an incredible year for us, with six new national members and four new international stakeholder members. We’ve not had a year like this since we were created over 16 years ago!” Any organization wishing to join the PEFC Alliance must be voted in by the other PEFC members. For most of the year, this is done through a postal ballot. But once a year, at the General Assembly, all our members come together and get to cast their votes in person. click Read More below for additional detail
Back To Top
×Close search
Search