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Dept for International Development

Answer

Mr. Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if her Department has given (a) practical and (b) financial backing of the World Bank loan for the Vision 2020 proposals. [159760] Clare Short: The enforcement of import policy is a matter for the Department of Trade and Industry and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise. In developing countries my Department provides capacity-building assistance to Governments and institutions to help them monitor logging and enforce forestry laws. For example, last year we initiated a £25 million project in Indonesia which will, among other things, help civil society groups and reformers in the Government tackle the illegal logging problem in their country. We are also co-sponsoring, with the World Bank and other donors, a ministerial-level East Asia Forest Law Enforcement Conference later this year. The UK has also taken a lead in the G8 in promoting action to tackle illegal logging. Following the Okinawa Summit last July, central Government Departments are now required actively to seek to purchase timber and timber products from legal and sustainable sources. DFID is funding research into options for intergovernmental action to address illegal logging, including the possible creation of an international legal framework.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

367 c411W; 159760

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Developing countries Development aid Forests Loans Sustainable development World Bank

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk