Palm and Palm & Work Project, as companies such as Coop Italy, Carrefour, IKEA, OBI and Migros, have joined the program for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) launched by the European Union. This program represents the first action to give effect to the commitment of the EU, signed in Johannesburg (2002) during the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to stop the current rate of loss of natural resources and biological diversity. FLEGT is a joint EU countries, which aims to coordinate instruments and agreements to promote responsible behavior and respect of the management of global forests.
Palm and Palm Work & Project are very attentive to the problem of illegal logging and the continuing importance of timber illegally introduced in European Union countries. Illegal logging contributes to deforestation, causes loss of biodiversity and erodes the power of the law. This practice does succumb to the sustainable forest management, encourages corruption and evasion of taxes and reduces the income of timber producing countries. Last but not least creates serious economic and social problems for the poor and the disadvantaged classes.
Import timber from illegal logging and call those who do not meet the minimum in the management of human resources and the environment contributes to risk jobs and international markets. It creates unfair competition based cope with the demands of small and medium sized enterprises which do not act responsibly in the market.
Palm, Palm & Project Work, and other members of the FLEGT believe it is their responsibility to implement and promote a concerted policy of purchasing management systems that are able to encourage more regulated and legal. They realize that the management of the wood can not be left to self-regulation and voluntary approaches and contend that there is a control timber that is introduced in the European Union: no EU guidelines, companies that decide to act responsibly will meet with inevitable disadvantages.
