深刻度パラメータとは何か、そしてなぜ重要なのか？ これまで、ほとんどの IM（＝Independent monitor：第三者モニター） による報告書は、一般的な違反としての、あるいは法的枠組みに対するオブザベーションの相対的な重要性、つまりその違反等がどれだけ深刻な問題かどうかについての情報を提供していませんでした。これは、特に義務的に作成された IM 報告書に当てはまり、報告書の客観性を確保するために、所見の解釈を制限していることが多いことによります。残念ながら、これでは林業関連の法律の専門家ではない幅広い読者が調査結果を理解し、利用することができません。さらに、多くの報告書は非常に専門的な言葉で書かれているため、ほとんどの読者がオブザベーション結果の相対的な重要性を理解することが困難です。例えば、ある企業が無許可で伐採を行ったと報告書に記載されていても、全く許可を得ずに伐採を行った場合と、許可が下りる2週間前に伐採を行った場合とでは大きな違いがあります。 OTP利用者が違法伐採や森林ガバナンス問題に関するオブザベーションの相対的な重要性（意義）を理解するために、WRIとそのパートナーは、独立モニターとの協力のもと、オブザベーションカテゴリーごとに様々な深刻度パラメータを開発しました。この深刻度アプローチにより、天然資源、生物多様性、労働者、経済への影響の大きさに応じてオブザベーションをグループ化することが可能になりました。パラメータは、オブザベーションの各サブカテゴリーについて、高い、中間、低い、の3つのレベルの厳しさを定義しています。 例えば、サブカテゴリー「必要な許可なしの収穫」については、深刻度パラメータは以下のように定義されています。 オブザベーションの深刻度レベルは何を意味するのか？ 違法伐採やガバナンス問題に関するオブザベーションの深刻度は、同じ違反の他のオブザベーションと比較して相対的な重要性を示します。例えば、500本の木を違法に伐採することは、10本の木を違法に伐採することよりもダメージが大きいと定義されています。OTP 深刻度パラメータは、違法行為の異なるカテゴリーやサブカテゴリーの深刻度を比較していない。言い換えれば、個々の違反の種類には同等の重みが与えられます。 深刻度パラメータはどのようにして決定されるのですか？ パラメータは4つの基本的なステップを経て決定されました。 深刻度パラメータは固定的なものではなく、林業会社や政府を含む OTP 利用者からのフィードバック、独立モニター との更なる協議、OTP の展開と地理的拡大から得られた教訓、生産国と需要国の政策展開に基づいて、定期的に更新されます。 深刻度パラメータにはどのような限界がありますか？ 深刻度パラメータの定義は正確な科学的なものではなく、その評価プロセスは個々のオブザベーションの重大度を最終的に決定するものではありません。この深刻度パラメータは、OTPユーザーが情報を解釈するのに役立つように設計されており、OTPユーザーは独自の基準に基づいてオブザベーションの深刻度を解釈することが推奨されています。 深刻度カテゴリーを定義するために使用される閾値は、深刻度の過小評価や過大評価につながる可能性があることに注意が必要です。例えば、深刻な過剰伐採の閾値は500本ですが、その結果、499本の木の過剰伐採のオブザベーションは中レベルに分類されることになります。したがって、OTP利用者は、あるオブザベーションの重要性について結論を出す前に、深刻度パラメータのレベルだけでなく、詳細についても検討することが推奨されています。 深刻度パラメータの地理的範囲は？ OTP開発の第一段階では、コンゴ盆地に焦点を当てています。その結果、深刻度パラメータは、主にこの地域の 独立モニターとの協議とその報告書の評価に基づいています。現在の目標は、グローバルに適用できる深刻度パラメータを開発することです。OTPが地理的に拡大するにつれて、地域レベルまたは国レベルでの深刻度パラメータもそれに応じて開発されることになると思われます。
OTPは3つの異なる情報源から木材生産者に関する情報を収集しています。登録されているすべての木材生産者、許可された区域、伐採契約は森林管理データベースから直接入手します。生産者企業は、法遵守に関する書類の標準的なリストと関連指標に従って、自発的に情報を開示します。 NGOやその他の資格のある主体は、オペレーターから提供された情報を補完し、検証します。
コンゴ共和国とコンゴ民主共和国から開始し、OTPは資源と機会が許す限り、他の主要な木材輸出国にも取り組みます。今後は、ガボン、カメルーン、中央アフリカ共和国を対象にすることを計画しています
The Risk Tool, hosted by WRI, provides an overview of relevant legislations and regulations as well as information about most commonly traded species, in order to help users ask informed questions about where their forest products come from and what issues a buyer might encounter. Users can find country-specific information about relevant laws and local contacts who might be able to help answer more questions.
SPOTT is a free online platform supporting sustainable production and trade. SPOTT scores tropical forestry and palm oil companies annually against over 130 environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators to benchmark their progress over time. See also this article that talks about how SPOTT integrates data from the OTP: SPOTT and the Open Timber Portal partner to promote transparency in the tropical timber sector to tackle illegal logging
The online timber trade portal serves as a central point where visitors can find information on the industry and legislation of timber-producing countries, which are mainly located in tropical areas. The platform enables operators to make their own risk analysis and exercise due diligence, on a case-by-case basis, by presenting facts such as forestry sector data, legislative frameworks, VPA processes, etc.
1. Where does the data come from? The OTP compiles information about forest operations from three sources: government agencies, logging companies and third-party organizations. (1) Government agencies in producer countries provide details on forest concessions, such as geographic boundaries, forest concession names, initial year of exploitation, as well as the names of the registered logging companies that operate in forest concessions within their country. This is largely drawn from data compiled in the Forest Atlases. (2) All of the registered logging companies operating in producer countries are listed on the OTP website. These companies are then able to voluntarily register their profile and upload key documents to demonstrate compliance with the legal framework of the country that they operate in. (3) Third-party organizations include independent monitors (IMs), both mandated or nonmandated, as well as other civil society groups and nongovernment organizations at the local and international level. These organizations are able to upload observations of suspected noncompliance, provided that they are supported by evidence. In some cases, observations are validated by an official reading committee. See our section below on IMs to find out more about how they operate. (4) Data from Global Forest Watch on forest cover and tree cover loss over time as well as on protected areas. This data also includes weekly Global Land Analysis and Discover (GLAD) tree cover loss alerts. 2. How accurate is the data in the OTP? For the data submitted by companies, the OTP has put in place a two-step validation process, where an initial review of the submissions is conducted to ensure that the content is legible, of sufficient quality and categorized correctly. This is followed by a secondary review to verify the content and the quality of the information provided. Company documents are also reviewed by external experts periodically. For the data submitted by third-party organizations, there are two levels of quality control. First, WRI staff and local partners from IM organizations review the completion of the submission (forms must include evidence and correct legal references). This is followed by a secondary review, where the content of the submission is reviewed, and comments to improve the quality of the submission are sent back to the IM organization. WRI and its partners strive to keep the website up to date as much as possible, however we cannot guarantee that the data on the site is up to date at the time of access. WRI is not liable for any inaccuracies with the data available on the Open Timber Portal. To find out more, please take a look at our Terms of Service. 3. How is the transparency ranking calculated? To make data on the OTP easily accessible and understandable for users, companies are ranked on the basis of their level of voluntary disclosure. For each producer, a transparency score is calculated based on the percentage of documents shared on the OTP out of the total number of documents requested. 4. What’s an “IM” or independent monitor and what do they do? An independent monitor (“IM”) is a non-governmental organization that analyzes and reports on forest governance and management, as well as the harvest and transport of timber. The FLEGT VPA process creates an explicit role for IMs to oversee implementation of the agreement and verify compliance in the producer country. Usually, when mandated, the IM works under an agreement with the host country government. Its findings are in many countries validated by a reading committee that includes donors and other stakeholders, typically chaired by the national forest authority. Within the OTP, mandated IMs can enter instances of suspected noncompliance by companies and/or by government actors. These observations will need to be validated by the reading committee before they can be published on the OTP website. Nonmandated IMs can be NGOs and civil society organizations that work on forest protection and community rights but do not have an official agreement with the government of the country to conduct missions to monitor the implementation of the FLEGT VPAs. Observations from nonmandated IMs can be uploaded by these organizations directly onto the OTP website. These are then reviewed for validation by WRI staff and local partners. 5. How is the severity of observations/infractions calculated? To assist OTP users in understanding the relative importance or severity of an observation on illegal logging or a forest governance problem, WRI and its partners have developed severity parameters for each observation category in collaboration with IMs. Take a look at the Assessing severity of observations section, which will provide an in-depth explanation on how the severity parameters used were defined. 6. How often is the data updated? Companies and third-party organizations are regularly uploading new information on the OTP. 7. What are GLAD alerts? While the data from Global Forest Watch displays tree cover loss over time, GLAD alerts provide information on tree clearings as they happen. Alerts are updated weekly and allow for near-real time data on tree cover loss. For more information on the GLAD alerts, go to https://glad.geog.umd.edu/. 8. What is the difference between the OTP and other tools that support due diligence (SPOTT, Timber Trade Portal, NEPCON Sourcing Hub and BVRio)? In collaboration with the organizations that have created these tools, we have developed a joint flyer that provides a brief description of each of these tools and their geographical focus. You can also access these directly from our Tools and Resources section. 9. Will the OTP expand to other countries? The OTP will eventually be adaptable to and deployed in any country that manages natural forest areas through long-term forest management concessions. Currently, the OTP contains data about forest operations in the DRC, Congo and Cameroon. Data on forest operations in Gabon and CAR will be released on the OTP by the end of 2020. Observations of suspected infractions submitted by third-party organizations, however, are not limited to any specific country and users will be able to access data from around the globe. 10. Can I download the data from the OTP website? The OTP does not allow users to download company profiles or observations from third-party organizations, however, all documents published on the website can be individually accessed and downloaded.
1. Who can I contact for more information or questions about the website? If you have any questions about the information in the Open Timber Portal, please contact us at opentimberportal@wri.org 2. Where can I find out more about how to use the OTP? We have created an introduction video that walks you through the entire OTP website and explains all of the different functionalities. You can watch it here: - Skip to 2:52 for an introduction on the transparency ranking pages - Skip to 5:22 to learn more about how producer profiles work - Skip to 12:11 for a walk-through of the observations uploaded by third-party organizations 3. Do I need an account to use to OTP? The OTP is free to use, and users do not need to create an account in order to access the content. Only producers and third-party organizations who wish to contribute data will need to create an account. 4. How do I register as a producer in the OTP website and access my account? If you are producer operating in a country covered in the OTP and your company is not currently listed on the website, you will need to register as a producer on the site. Go to our New Producer page and follow the instructions to register as a producer. Once the company is listed on the OTP website, you will be able to create an account by going to the Sign up page. For more detailed information on how to set up an account, upload documents and any associated inquiries, please take a look at our Tutorial factsheet for producers. 5. I am a producer. How will I know which documents I will need to upload? For each country that the producer operates in, you will see a list of country-specific documents that can be uploaded onto the OTP website. In addition, producers will need to indicate the start date and expected expiration date of the document. 6. I’m a third-party organization that wants to upload information on the OTP website. How do I proceed? Any third-party organization that wants to contribute to the OTP will need to submit a registration request through the platform. Go to our Login page, select ‘Register’ and complete the form. Once the request has been approved by the OTP team, you will be able to log in on the same webpage with the username and password you selected in the registration form. For more detailed information on how to set up an account, creating observations and any associated inquiries, please take a look at our Tutorial factsheet for independent monitors. 7. I am producer and I have an issue with the content listed on my profile. All the content listed on your company will have been verified by OTP staff, however, if you have any additional issues with the content that is appearing on your company profile, please contact us at opentimberportal@wri.org.