"Honduran forest governance agreement brings cautious hope", 03 November 2022

...Community-based groups in Honduras have expressed optimism that a new timber export agreement with the European Union will help curb illegal logging and other illicit activities impacting the country’s forests and forest communities.

...[T]he Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA-FLEGT) took effect Sept. 1, the first of its kind to go into force in the Americas. FLEGT agreements ultimately seek to ensure that timber-producing countries only export legally harvested wood products to the EU. But the reforms and systems that need to be set up in Honduras to license legally harvested timber and timber products for export have much broader implications for forest governance and traceability...

Fifteen countries have signed or are negotiating FLEGT agreements with the EU. And while they all include eventual FLEGT licenses for legal timber and timber product exports to the EU, the agreements are tailored for each country. The Honduran VPA also includes licenses for the regional market in Central America as well as records of legality for the national market. A Honduran timber legality assurance system, SALH, will be developed and will function as a backbone for the eventual application of the various licenses...

Honduras has the highest percentage rate of deforestation in Latin America, losing on average 2.2% of its forests annually between 2000 and 2015, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Illegal logging, the expansion of the agricultural frontier, oil palm plantations, mining, cattle ranching and subsistence fuelwood collection are some of the main drivers of deforestation across the country...