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GGGI and Norway join the second phase of the Legal Timber Pact in Colombia

December 2, 2021; Bogotá, Colombia – Identified as one of the alternatives to face deforestation in Colombia and promote the forest economy based on forest goods and services, the Intersectoral Pact for Legal Timber in Colombia – PIMLC, initiates a new phase within the framework of the environmental agenda and the country’s commitments to 2030.

In order to promote the legal timber trade in Colombia, Phase 2.0. of the Pact involves the development of actions aimed at technical and financial training for relevant stakeholders, the offer and promotion of legal timber, and the construction and implementation of a monitoring scheme.

In this regard, the director of forests, biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Minister of Environment and Sustainable development, Adriana Santa, highlighted that Phase 2.0 of the Pact seeks to advance on plans and tools for market promotion and the strengthening of inter-institutional coordination to consolidate strong forest governance in the country.

In a formal event, the signing of the Pact’s renewal was carried out and with it the start of Phase 2.0, which hopes to achieve the harmonization of the 18 departmental agreements for existing legal timber, and the development of new ones such as the Zero Deforestation Agreement Guidelines for Timber.

In addition to the founding entities (the Minister of Environment and Sustainable development, CARDER, WWF, FEDEMADERAS), ASOCARS, the event held the participation of the ministries of Agriculture, Defense, Housing and Commerce, national CAMACOL, SENA, the District University, and different Environmental Authorities,; accompanied by the Global Green Growth Institute – GGGI, the Norwegian Embassy, ​​the Delegation of the European Union in Colombia, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO.

At the event, Pablo Martínez, GGGI country representative in Colombia, indicated that GGGI and Norway will support the Pact to develop and promote strategies, programs and projects aimed at the development of the forestry sector, which in turn promote the increase in the consumption of legal forest products and the rejection of deforestation in Colombia.

In turn, Aura Robayo, climate and forests advisor at the Norwegian Embassy, ​​highlighted the interest of the Norwegian government in the matter: “We are very committed to achieving the goals of the second phase of the pact through our different programs. In this phase, more concrete management indicators are proposed, so we hope to establish more roots for Colombia’s forest culture”.