Developing background analyses for Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) support project in Cameroon, Laos and Vietnam

About the project 

In 2018, the Government of Vietnam has signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union on Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT). The agreement indicates that the Government of Vietnam is supporting legal timber supply chains – both import and export.

It is worth noting that both import and export discrepancies have long been used as an important indicator of illegal timber. The trade discrepancy analysis involves calculating roundwood equivalent volumes (RWE) of imports and exports and values for each country’s trade with Vietnam from official import data (for timber products, wood furniture, and pulp and paper).

To support legal timber supply chains in countries supplying timber to Vietnam, stakeholders in Vietnam importing timber from supplier country need access to information on the legality requirements for timber and wood products.

The government, private sector and civil society partners in Vietnam are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH during implementation of their FLEGT VPA. BMZ’s support in Vietnam is provided through the GIZ programme on conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity and ecosystem services (Forest-Biodiversity Project). 

In the specific context of Vietnam, the development of a timber legality assurance system (VNTLAS) needs to pay special attention to the high south-south timber trade and supply chains. This aspect is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in cooperation with the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Through its Forest Governance Markets and Climate Programme (FGMC) DFID has co-commissioned this project “Support to VPA processes in Vietnam, Laos and Cameroon – towards legal timber supply chains between VPA countries” to the GIZ Sector Project International Forest Policy (SV IWP).   

For this project, GIZ has commissioned Preferred by Nature (formerly known as NEPCon) to provide a background analyses of timber trade with Vietnam.

The data collected for an overview of current trade of Vietnam with 10 supplier countries, as well as the overview of legal requirements for timber harvesting, processing and trade, are key to secure a credible and detailed analysis of challenges and opportunities, as well as defining clear and relevant recommendations.

Project activities

The reports cover the following:

	Overview of current trade of Vietnam with Laos and Vietnam with Cameroon
	Overview of legal requirements for timber harvesting, processing and trade
	Analysis of potential challenges and opportunities for verification of legal compliance along the supply chains to Vietnam

Deliverables/Output 

Under this project risk assessments for the following countries were developed (see below). These risk assessments are in the process of being further improved and updated as needed. Please follow the links below to the Sourcing Hub, where links are provided. Final updating should be completed in autumn 2021.

The background analyses for VPA support project in Cameroon, Laos and Vietnam is available here.

The analysis, results and recommendations in all reports represent the opinion of the author(s) and are not necessarily representative of the position of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.   

The Risk Assessments have been produced for educational and informational purposes only. We are not liable for any reliance placed on this document, or any financial or other loss caused as a result of reliance on information contained herein. The information contained in the Risk Assessment is accurate, to the best of Preferred by Nature’s knowledge, as of the publication date. 

Note that these Risk Assessments will be shared for comments during a second public consultation and that we will improve them also according to Preferred by Nature procedures. The final Risk Assessments and Document Guides will be published on the Sourcing Hub.