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Legal Timber investigates a topical issue in international forest policy: how to verify the legality of traded timber in ways that will satisfy both the commercial interests of producer states and the social and environmental concerns of civil society and consumers.

This seemingly straightforward and technical matter proves, on investigation, to be complex and political. It addresses a critical interface in international relations where the sovereign rights of producer states are set against the role of forests as

important public goods. It relates to a topic — illegal logging — that has been at the forefront of a movement in which private actors are playing increasingly important roles in forest sector reform. Legal Timber presents the findings of the VERIFOR project, an applied research collaboration involving partners in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Drawing on case studies from five continents, the book investigates the ways in which questions of forest management illuminate much wider processes of governance reform.

This book will be of interest to all those working on forest governance and the management of extractive resources, trade certification and labelling, environmental activism, and participatory development.