Vietnam boosts customs and forest rangers to tackle illegal timber imports

Posted on September 24, 2024   |  

Vietnam is a major player in the timber trade, importing and exporting significant amounts of timber, mainly from Africa's Congo Basin, which suffers from severe deforestation.

Uncontrolled deforestation in the Congo Basin threatens Vietnam's timber industry and makes it difficult for enforcement officers to verify timber species and documentation due to a lack of resources and knowledge.

To address these issues, TRAFFIC, the Department of Forestry, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) organized training courses in various provinces.

Training took place in Quang Tri, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Dong Nai, and Gia Lai, reaching 123 officials from Vietnam Customs, Forest Protection Department, and Environmental Police across 21 provinces.

The training aimed to enhance skills related to ensuring legal compliance for imported timber, focusing on both international and Vietnamese regulations.

Topics included due diligence in managing timber, controlling high-risk species, and methods for identifying timber types.

Participants learned about traceability tools for verifying timber species along the supply chain and a new wood identification tool being developed by TRAFFIC.

This training is particularly important as Vietnam works to fulfill its commitments under the Vietnam-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT), which requires stronger systems to ensure the legality of timber in the supply chain.