What We're Reading: August 1, 2011

The world of forest legality changes rapidly, and it’s not always easy to keep up with what’s happening. At the Forest Legality Alliance, we’ll be using this space to point out new reports, publications, newsletters, and resources that can help you stay up to date with what’s current in the world. This week:

Forest Trends, in collaboration with the European Forest Institute’s FLEGT Asia program, published a baseline study, Overview of Forest Governance, Markets, and Trade, for Lao PDR. The report is available in English and in Lao. Among its findings:

• “Conversion timber” is the predominant source of timber in Laos
• Timber sales account for roughly 12% of overall government revenue (2006)
• Laos’ forest product export markets are dominated by Vietnam and Thailand

The European Forest Institute released its ninth bimonthly newsletter (in English, Spanish, and French), containing information on recent international forestry conferences and links to useful publications, as well as helpful updates on the status of voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs) with various countries under the EU FLEGT framework.

, a newsletter affiliated with www.responsiblemarkets.org, featured a conference report from the Fourth International Conference and Workshops on Forests, Markets, Policy and Practice in Shanghai on June 22-23, 2011. The event was hosted by the International Forestry Cooperation Center (IFCC) and Center for International Forest Products Trade (CINFT) of the Chinese State Forestry Administration, with funding from the USAID-funded Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade (RAFT) Program and the EU-supported FLEGT Asia Program. It is co-organized by the Rainforest Alliance, the Chinese Academy of Forestry, The Nature Conservancy, WWF GFTN and The Forest Trust. The conference focused on forest and supply chain management, and on sustaining a viable global timber industry in a changing regulatory environment.

is just out from Double Helix. The report lays out recent developments in DNA sequencing technology and some of the ways in which these could be applied to forest products to encourage improved transparency in the forest sector.

Disclaimer: Some of these publications are produced by Alliance members and partners, while others are produced by organizations that are not affiliated with the Forest Legality Alliance. In all cases, the views expressed in these materials are the sole responsibility of their authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Forest Legality Alliance, its members and partners, or the U.S. Agency for International Development.