Dar to Host Regional Timber Trade Forum

Press Release

The city of Dar es Salaam is set to host the 2nd Annual East Africa Timber Trade Stakeholders Forum to be held at the Giraffe Ocean Hotel from 28th - 29th May 2014.
 
This year’s Forum is set to help coordinate solutions to the illegal and unsustainable timber trade in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique.  It is a follow up to last year’s meeting when participants from the region first came together to assess regional timber trade needs and actions.

 
Over 50 participants from various sectors involved in conservation and timber trade are expected to attend this meeting organized by TRAFFIC, WWF and the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum. 
 
The illegal trade in timber represents a significant loss in local and national revenues, with estimates for the continent as a whole indicating loses of over $17 billion per year.  In the eastern Africa region the illegal timber trade is also a driver of environmental degradation.  What is needed to reverse these negative impacts is better knowledge of how the illegal trade functions at various scales, improved law enforcement and positive incentives for a legal and sustainable trade.  These needs will be discussed at this Forum meeting bringing together participants from regional bodies like SADC and EAC together with national forest departments, researchers, the private sector and international timber trade experts. 
 
The Forum will also seek to influence current and future interventions on timber trade through sharing new information and aims to develop an agreed set of actions to go forward over the next year.
 
For more information please contact John Kabubu on +255 687 206 184 or email jkabubu@wwfesarpo.org