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Lacey Act Wins Forest Policy Award
September 21,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on September 22, 2011
The amended U.S. Lacey Act has received a Silver Future Policy Award from the World Future Council.
The awards recognize laws and policies that contribute to the conservation and sustainable development of forests. Rwanda's National Forest Policy was overall winner of the 2011 Future Policy Award. The Lacey Act, along with Gambia's Community Forest Policy, received the Silver Awards. The three winning policies were announced Wednesday at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
"Exemplary policy solutions do exist. The Future Policy Award celebrates the best of them," said Alexandra Wandel," director of the World Future Council, an international policy research organisation that provides decision-makers with effective policy solutions. "The aim of the award is to raise global awareness for these policies and speed up policy action. We need visionary policies which support a sustainable and just world and protect future generations The 2011 Future Policy Award shines a spotlight on the success stories and challenges faced by the worlds forests and the people who depend on them."
The US Lacey Act amendment of 2008 prohibits all trade in wood and plant products that are knowingly illegally sourced from a U.S. state or any foreign country.
"The Lacy Act enforces the environmental law of even the weakest of countries in the most powerful way," said jury member Tewolde Berhan Egziabher, director general of Ethiopia's Environmental Protection Authority and World Future Councillor. "If all countries followed its example, environmental law would be globally enforced and our biosphere would be protected."
The strength of the Act lies in its ability to target and place responsibility on every stage of the timber supply chain. It has forced importers to take responsibility for their wood products and has already produced positive results in increasing due diligence assessments and demand for certified wood products.
Twenty policies from 16 countries were nominated for the Future Policy Award.