Evaluation of the EU FLEGT Action Plan (Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade) 2004 - 2014 : Final Report ; Volume 1 (Main Report)

A team of eight experts has conducted an independent evaluation of eleven years (2004-2014) of implementation of the EU Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement Governance andTrade (FLEGT), commissionedby the European Commission through the European Forest Institute. The Evaluation Report comprises two volumes: Volume 1, the Main Report, presents the evaluation approach and methodology, gives an overview of the Action Plan, its genesis, objectives and structure, and documents the state of play of implementation in the seven Action Areas, against initial expectations. It then answers the ten evaluation questions around which the evaluation has been structured, which relate to the five OECD/DAC evaluation criteria (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability) and two criteria that apply to EC policies (coherence/ complementarity and Community value added). Volume 2 contains all supporting documentation, in particular Survey results and (24) Aide-memoires on FLEGT in EU Member States, VPA countries and other timber producer and consumer countries. It also presents a detailed report on VPAs, covering two key areas of the Action Plan in more detail: (1) Support to timber-producing countries and (2) Trade in timber. The report draws lessons and conclusions and presents ten key messages and detailed corresponding recommendations to guide future EU efforts on FLEGT and, more broadly, on reversing the loss of forest cover and promoting sustainable management of forest resources.