Twenty-one Pacific Rim economies have signed a joint pledge to intensify the fight against illegal timber, with forestry ministers closing two days of talks in Shenzhen on commitments running from enforcement to wood in construction. That is according to the joint statement issued through APEC after the sixth Ministerial Meeting on Forestry, the first ecological ministerial China has hosted in 15 years.
“Strengthen efforts to combat illegal logging and associated trade,” the ministers wrote first among eight aspirations, pledging to promote trade in legally harvested products and to write forest governance into wider economic plans. The statement also commits economies to strengthen the Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade, known as EGILAT, which runs policy dialogue and training across the region’s enforcement agencies.
Market-based incentives, strict harvesting controls, and bioeconomy innovation have expanded New Zealand’s forest cover by more than 10 per cent since 1990, head of delegation Jenny Cameron told the meeting. Cameron called on economies to curb the illegal timber trade together and to build resilient supply chains for forest products.
China backed its chairmanship with hard numbers, counting more than 50 demonstration projects across 20 economies and US$45 million in funding. Those 1,300 hectares of degraded land restored belong to the same APFNet portfolio set out when the ministerial opened.
Building with wood won a commitment of its own, with ministers encouraging “the use of wood in construction and other sectors” alongside advanced processing, circular bio-economies, agroforestry, and higher-value forest products. Cooperation extends to urban forestry, protected areas, and forest health.
The statement counted mangroves among the forests providing “multiple values, services and contributions” for economic growth and people’s wellbeing, after the International Mangrove Center opened its Shenzhen secretariat on the eve of the talks.
