Tropical Forest Foundation

Description

Timber and paper are among the world’s most commonly used and traded commodities. Responsible forest management delivers renewable raw material for a wide range of products, provides livelihood for millions of people and contributes to preserving biodiversity. In many regions, however, illegal logging has devastating impacts. It contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions, deprives nations of much needed public revenue, and can lead to social conflict and human rights violations. To address these challenges, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), launched the Forest Legality Alliance (FLA) in 2010. The Alliance was an international, multi-stakeholder initiative designed to achieve better forest governance and biodiversity conservation by reducing demand for illegally harvested forest products and increasing the capacity of supply chains to deliver legal wood and paper. Over the course of several years, the FLA engaged with key partners from the forest products industry, government agencies, and civil society to steer the conversation away from whether the Lacey Act Amendment should be gutted, repealed, or replaced, to a conversation that instead focused on how businesses could reduce their risk of running afoul of the new law.