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ASEAN Working Group on a Pan-ASEAN Timber Certification Initiative (AWG-PATCI)

14th AWG-PATCI Meeting, Manila, 4 June 2015 (Photo source: Forest Policy Section, FMB)

The ASEAN Working Group on a Pan-ASEAN Timber Certification Initiative  (AWG-PATCI) was created in 2002 as an ad hoc working group under the ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry (ASOF) to explore concrete measures for regional cooperation in timber certification between ASEAN Member States. The main objective of the working group is to support ASOF and ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in decision making and implementation process by providing specific policy oriented and focused research and policy analysis including capacity building activities relevant to legality and sustainability, and trade in legal timber products.

AWG-PATCI was elevated into a permanent working group within the ASEAN Framework in 2008. This is in line with the broader vision of ASEAN to realize the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint for trade in legal and sustainable timber by the year 2015.

Since its inaugural meeting in 2002, the Working Group has made much progress with the formulation and adoption of a number of key documents that include the following:
1. ASEAN Guideline on Phased Approach to Forest Certification;
2. The six elements for the definition of legality of timber;
3. ASEAN Criteria and Indicators for Legality of Timber; and
4. ASEAN Chain of Custody Guidelines for Legal Timber and Sustainable Timber.

The Group meets annually.
 
Focal Office:
Forest Management Bureau (FMB)
Date:
Date established : 2002
Focal Persons:
ASOF Leader
       FOR. RICARDO L. CALDERON
       Director
       DENR - Forest Management Bureau (FMB)
       Tel. Nos. - (63 2) 928 9313, (63 2) 927 4788

Alternate Focal
       FOR. FE C. OLIVEROS
       Chief, Forest Policy Section, FPPKMD
       DENR - Forest Management Bureau (FMB)
       Tel. Nos. - (63 2) 926 2141
Sources / Relevant Links:
Status:

Updates

The following were highlighted during the 15th Meeting of TWG-PATCI:
       - Review and deliberation of draft Terms of Reference (ToR) and Rules of Procedures (RoP) of the AWG- FPD under the proposed structure. This is In line with the streamlining of ASOF subsidiary bodies wherein the WG-PATCI will be subsumed under the ASEAN Working Group on Forest Product Development (AWG- FPD).
       - Review and deliberation of the draft FLEG Work Plan (2016-2025) for further consideration and discussion in the 12 th Meeting of the ASEAN Experts Group on International Forest Policy Processes (AEG-IFPP). This was developed following the proposed SPA for ASEAN Cooperation in Forestry (2016-2025) and was anchored on the current work plan for FLEG in ASEAN (2008-2015).
       - Submission of the final draft of the “Stock Taking Study on Existing Initiatives for Ensuring Legal and Sustainable Timber in ASEAN” to the 19 th ASOF Meeting on August in Lao PDR.
      - Presentation by RAFT-TNC, EU-FLEGT Facility, and FAO-FLEGT Programme in Asia Pacific in support of the ASEAN joint approaches in timber certification and addressing sustainability and legality challenges in trade in timber and other forest products.

Previously, the 14th meeting discussed the draft report on “Stock Taking Study on Existing Initiatives for Ensuring Legal and Sustainable Timber in ASEAN.” The recommendation was to finalize the study and prepare a comprehensive analysis providing short and long-term recommendations based on additional data/information to be submitted by AMS. The outcome of the Sub-Regional Training Workshop on Timber Legality Assurance was reported wherein sharing of practical experiences and interaction amongst different stakeholders happened. Specific topics were on measures to ensure credibility for Timber Legality Assurance Systems, civil society engagement, market impacts, legality of imported timber and specific questions about VPA systems under development in the different countries. RAFT-TNC (Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade–The Nature Conservancy) and EU-FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) Facility presented potential areas for collaboration relative to timber legality, sustainable forest management (SFM), FLEG related issues, trade promotion, harmonization of standards, capacity building, etc.
This Page was updated on 25 January 2017 and will be updated on 25 April 2017
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