Developing best wood tracking practices to verify legality of wood origin in Latvia: WBCSD and WWF pilot
project
Violations of Latvia’s forestry act are not the main problem facing the local logging
industry, but rather other illegalities related to national and international laws. The
WBCSD and the WWF, under a collaborative framework agreement, have come
together in a joint pilot project to define a wood tracking system for Latvia.
Executive Summary
Background
Recent institutional and legal reforms, greening legislation, capacity development and the rapid development of forest
certification characterize forest sector trends in the Baltic States. At the same time, problems related to weak law
enforcement, the weak organization of private forest owners, insufficient corporate responsibility and money laundering in
the timber trade remain.
Under its
Collaborative Framework Agreement ( 947 kb), the WBCSD and WWF undertook a joint pilot project on
wood tracking practices in Latvia. The project in Latvia was also launched to support
The Forests Dialogue (TFD)
process on illegal logging, which is seeking to raise stakeholder awareness of the problems at an international level,
discuss proven and practical solutions and promote their wider adoption.
While the pilot project has allowed project partners to develop a better understanding of the scope and magnitude of the
problem in Latvia, the project’s conclusion – outlined below – can also benefit other actors in Latvia, as well as other
industries and countries.
Conclusion and recommendation
The WBCSD & WWF pilot project in Latvia proposes that all companies in Latvia implement and use an effective system
to track wood origin by identifying where and how the wood was harvested. The wood tracking system includes three
main parts:
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