About the project
Vietnam has become an important destination for timber processing, with African countries playing an essential source of logs. It is estimated Vietnams timber industry imports as much as 1.3 to 1.5 million cubic meters of wood products from around 20 countries and territories annually. As part of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement signed with the European Union in October 2018, Vietnam has committed to develop and implement an import control system. One of the new requirements will make it mandatory for the Vietnamese timber industry to exercise due diligence procedures on the sector's product sourcing from abroad.
Project brief and key objectives
With Vietnam’s commitment to the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, its timber industry is in the process of adapting to a range of new procedures. Preferred by Nature works closely together with VIFOREST to support this transition by delivering the following:
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We are training the industry in implementing due diligence on the timber trade. The target audience is up to 40 Vietnamese importers of African timber.
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To set up a ‘Training of Trainers’ mission that can support Vietnam’s timber industry long-term.
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Support VIFOREST in implementing a support programme for importers and help select companies establish a robust due diligence system for their sourcing operations.
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Develop an online training course on due diligence, available in Vietnamese, and produce training material for compliance verification for government agencies.
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Support the African Timber Workshop in Hanoi, Vietnam. Our experts will introduce participants to the legal frameworks and local practices in the timber sector in eight African countries with a special focus on timber harvesting, processing, and trading in the Democratic Rep. of Congo, Gabon, and Nigeria.
Project Outputs
This project developed a Vietnamese web-based open-source self-learning course on Due Diligence for Vietnamese timber importers. The course is available also to those helping importers with their due diligence, the competent authorities tasked with enforcing the regulation, and any interested persons.
To access the course: https://traininghub.preferredbynature.org/courses/trach-nhiem-giai-trinh-trong-nhap-khau-go-tai-vietnam
Background on VIFOREST
Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association, VIFOREST, was founded in 2000 as a non-profit organisation to support all actors engaged in the Vietnamese forestry and wood products industry.
The analysis, results and recommendations in all reports represent the opinion of the author(s) and are not necessarily representative of the position of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
