Nairobi, Kenya: 12 – 13 April 2017; In
reference to the Zanzibar Declaration on Illegal Trade in
Timber and Forest Products signed at the XIV World Forestry Congress in Durban,
South Africa on 9th September 2016, national forest agencies from
Republics of Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Uganda, and United Republic of
Tanzania met in Nairobi, Kenya to deliberate on actions to implement the
Declaration. The deliberations, which form the basis of this briefing note,
were generated as part of multi-stakeholder process with presence of media,
Civil Society Organizations, international organizations and Customs
authorities from Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. The meeting in Nairobi was part of the 4th Annual East
Africa Timber Trade Stakeholders’ Forum held
from 27th to 28th June 2016.
The
deliberations reached at the Forum in Nairobi are based on the mutual desire of
all Parties under the Zanzibar Declaration to cooperate on regional efforts to curb illegal timber trade and other
forest products. In reaffirming these commitments, the representatives of
national forest agencies proposed the formulation of the Steering
Committee (also referred to as the Technical Committee), which would consist of
high-level government officials capable of pushing forward the deliberations
under the Zanzibar Declaration in the political sphere. As a hosting
institution for the 4th Annual East
Africa Timber Trade Stakeholders’ Forum, Kenya
Forest Service (KFS) was selected as a first secretariat and Chair for the
Steering Committee.
Purpose of the
First Steering Committee Meeting
The objectives of the meeting will include:
·
To launch the
Steering Committee under the Zanzibar Declaration
·
To agree on a number
of proposed collaborative regional actions and modalities for implementation
· To release the regional timber trade report on trade dynamics that covers
several countries within the region
The Steering
Committee has agreed on the following:
1/ Membership of
the Steering Committee
To be comprised of Heads of
Forest Institutions within the geographical scope of the Signatories of the Declaration
and others that may wish to join.
Currently, the membership of the Steering Committee is composed of
the following:
o
Kenya Forest Service
o
National Forestry Authority of Uganda
o
Forest Sector Support Department of
Uganda
o
Tanzania Forest Service Agency
o
Department of Forestry and
Non-renewable Natural Resources of Zanzibar
o
National Directorate of Forest of
Mozambique
o
Directorate General of Forest of
Madagascar
2/ Functions of
the Steering Committee
The Parties to the Zanzibar Declaration
have jointly agreed the following as functions to be carried by the Steering
Committee:
· To make
decisions based on the mandate for the benefit of the Member States
· To
facilitate communication and cooperation between Parties.
· To seek
financial resources for implementation of the Zanzibar Declaration
· To
provide oversight, coordinate and/or provide linkages to the in-country
technical committees (e.g., multi-agency teams, judiciary, and law enforcement)
· To review
and approve membership by other Member States with interest to join the
Declaration
·
To review and approve implementation,
work plans and reports of the member Parties.
3/ Leadership and
Hosting Arrangement
The Secretariat and the Chair of the
Steering Committee will be hosted and led by Parties on a two-year rotational
basis.
The Steering Committee has extended a
request to WWF and TRAFFIC to continue to provide support until such time when
the institutional structure of the Zanzibar Declaration is self-sustaining.
4/ Repatriation
and disposal of timber and non-timber forest products
At a meeting with several signatories to
the Zanzibar Declaration in Madagascar in February 2017, Parties expressed the
need to collaborate in developing mechanisms and agreements to deal with seized
consignments (under CITES, etc.) in another country but within the geographical
scope of the Zanzibar Declaration, and evidence sharing for prosecuting cases
related to seized consignments. In
particular, Parties expressed frustrations on revenue loss for consignments
seized abroad and that repatriation of consignments adds more costs to process
cases, exacerbating additional pressure on countries. The meeting took the
position as follows:
“In the spirit of the Zanzibar Declaration, the
preference is not to destroy seized timber and non-timber forest products, and
that relevant Parties enter into bi-lateral agreements to address the disposal
of seized contraband.”
5/ Strengthening
collaboration as a bloc
Parties to the Zanzibar Declaration have recognized their forest areas
are shrinking, coupled with loss of biodiversity, while there is increasing trade
in forest and wildlife resources to East and South Asian countries. For example, according to Lukumbuzya and
Sianga (2017), Kenya, India, and China are Tanzania’s most important export
destinations for timber, accounting for more that 70% of the value of
Tanzania’s exports over the past 10 years.
Mozambique exported USD186 million of timber products (5% of
Mozambique’s total exports), about 90% of which is destined to China.
Recognizing this situation, but also the opportunities to forge a more
effective forest-related business relationship, the Steering Committee has
agreed thus
“to consider a bloc approach to enter into
legally binding agreements with relevant trading partners, specifically Asian
countries, to strengthen sustainable forest management and trade.”
6/ Funding for the
Zanzibar Declaration
The signing of the Zanzibar Declaration
by the Governments of Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Uganda, and Tanzania,
represents a clear sign of commitment by Governments in the region to make an
end to the illegal trade in timber and forest products, which is not only
degrading the rich forests assets of the region but also represents an enormous
loss in economic values and livelihood opportunities to the countries.
A key question that is on the table is
currently how to finance the implementation of the advanced measures to be
implemented at both national and regional level, to deliver on the aspirations
of these agreements. In this regard, the
Steering Committee has agreed the following as the way forward:
·
Parties are fully committed to implement the Zanzibar Declaration and
that they will continue to include the national priorities in their
government’s planning cycle.
Parties
have expressed the need to pursue other opportunities to fundraise to implement
actions under the Zanzibar Declaration. In this particularly interest, Parties
have jointly agreed that they will pursue Global Environmental Facility (GEF7)
funding opportunity. Parties will seek guidance from their national GEF focal
points to pursue the opportunity.
