Source: United States Department of Justice
In Gabon last month, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the Gabon Ministry of Water and Forests, the Sea and the Environment, led a five-day multilateral workshop that included Cameroon and Vietnam to combat illegal timber trade and strengthen legal timber commerce. With over 100 total attendees, the workshop was the first-ever to assemble:
- Industry,
- key countries that harvest timber,
- a top timber importing-exporting and processing country, and
- key consumer countries.
This means that a complete supply chain was represented at the workshop — from harvesting through processing and distribution, including customs, as the represented countries trade timber with each other. In addition to government officials from the United States, Gabon, Cameroon, and Vietnam, representatives from the United Kingdom, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and industry representatives from Cameroon, Gabon, Vietnam, and the United States attended the event.
The workshop also supported ongoing bilateral counter-timber trafficking efforts between the United States, Cameroon, Gabon, and Vietnam.
“The United States has a strong commercial interest in addressing illegal timber in global supply chains and preventing illegal wood products from entering the U.S. market in violation of the Lacey Act. Illegally imported wood undercuts our domestic producers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD. “Cooperation with our foreign trading partners enhances our collective ability to interdict the trade of illegal timber while supporting legitimate commerce.”
Workshop Objectives
The focus of the workshop included:
- Assuring systems are implemented across participating countries to provide for legal and traceable timber;
- Assessing customs procedures for timber moving through global supply chains;
- Analyzing enforcement strategies and available resources;
- Addressing industry concerns and opportunities for legal trade; and
- Augmenting collaborative investigation and prosecution techniques.
Participants also visited sites in Gabon related to the country’s timber supply chain, including the Gabon Special Economic Zone.
In addition to ENRD and the Forest Service, this workshop was supported by other U.S. government components including DOJ’s Trade Fraud Task Force, Customs and Border Protection, Fish and Wildlife Service, Homeland Securities Investigations, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, State Department, and the U.S. Embassies in Libreville (Gabon), Hanoi (Vietnam), and Yaoundé (Cameroon).
Supporting Legal Trade
Illegal logging is the third most lucrative form of transnational organized crime, after counterfeiting and drug trafficking. Illegal logging robs lawful timber producers and forest owners of billions of dollars each year in lost revenue. The workshop underscored the United States’ commitment to strengthening bilateral and multilateral economic relationships through enhanced enforcement cooperation.
Gabon and Cameroon each maintain active timber trade with both the United States and Vietnam, and Vietnam is currently negotiating memoranda of understanding with Gabon and Cameroon to formalize timber trade data exchange and joint investigations.