African countries work to create incentives to reduce illegal logging with domestic market demands
A two-day workshop on “promoting legal timber through public timber purchasing policies” was held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The workshop, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Ministry of Water and Forestry, Côte d'Ivoire, the Centre for International Forestry Research and the German Agency for International Development, provided a forum for sector stakeholders to exchange views on how to strengthen the legal supply of timber and timber products, by developing creative, long-term public procurement policies. More than 90 participants representing West and Central African governments, civil society, academia, private sector, and international organizations took part in a valuable example of South-South cooperation. Public procurement policies which preference legally harvested and produced timber products have tremendous potential to create incentives throughout the supply chain and help foster a sustainable domestic market.