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Dept for International Development

Answer

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to develop a programme of action to follow on from the memorandum of understanding between the UK and Indonesia to combat illegal logging signed in April. [64352] Clare Short: Since the signing of the memorandum of understanding on 18 April, DFID, in close conjunction with officials in other Government Departments, has taken a number of steps to implement the agreement. In May, DFID officials visited Indonesia and agreed a detailed programme of action to implement the memorandum. Indonesian officials will visit the UK in July to finalise this programme. During this visit they will meet with British Government officials, representatives of the UK Timber Trades Federation and non-governmental organisations. The exploitation of forest resources in Indonesia is subject to a very large number of inconsistent and often contradictory laws. Consolidated and revised legislation is not practical in the short to medium term. My Department has therefore also commissioned two consultancies (involving UK and Indonesian experts) to address two fundamental aspects of the agreement: the establishment of workable criteria to define legality; and the identification of possible systems of mandatory compliance. The results of this work, which is already under way, are expected by the end of August.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

64352; 387 c995W;387 c993W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Crime Law and order Forestry Treaties Timber Tree felling Indonesia

Link

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