Joint North South advocacy to halt further deforestation in South East Asia

The objectives of this project are (i) to have effective government and private sector policies implemented that prevent all Dutch contribution to SEA forest and natural livelihood resources destruction, and (ii) to increase the strength and effectiveness of the VMD Southern partner organisations, their networks of civil society organisations and the VMD organisation through close co-operation. The main activities to attain these objectives are joint research, lobby work, public awareness raising activities and legal measures to put pressure on decision makers. Two activities are especially designed to increase synergy among the project partners: VMD’s assistance to Southern partners on concrete cases of forest destruction, and the prolonged exchange of campaigners. VMD desires the following impacts: (i) the import of illegal timber in the Netherlands and the EU has stopped, (ii) the market share of FSC-certified timber has substantially increased and the market share of destructively harvested timber has substantially decreased, (iii) in the Netherlands no palm oil is used now as biomass or biofuel, and (iv) all palm oil imported in the Netherlands for the food and cosmetics industries is from sustainable origin. Furthermore, this project should lead to an enduring effective and efficient collaboration between VMD, the Southern partners and their networks of CBOs in tackling forest destruction problems and seizing opportunities related to the protection and improvement of natural livelihood resources.