Computerized clearance to help stop illegal logging - DENRTags: philippines enforcement trade government
Manila, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has computerized clearance forms for shipping logs and other forest products in the country for more efficient tracking of transactions that would cut down opportunities for illegal logging.
The DENR announced on Thursday that all its regional offices, except those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, have started issuing computerized forms for clearances of timber and lumber shipments in a bid to eliminate fraud in such transactions.
The computerized certificate of timber origin (CTO) and certificate of lumber origin (CLO) are issued to every shipment of wood products which will be closely monitored through a database system.
The new computer-generated CTO and CLO forms utilize two bar code numbers, which are randomly generated as a "safety net." The bar codes would allow the DENR to efficiently monitor movements and transport of wood products within the country, it said.
The CTO are forms required to ship raw forest products while the CLO forms are documents needed in transporting processed woods.
"We hope that this [move] would prevent the illegal transport of timber and logs as well as help us in easily tracing those who have liabilities in the disposition of forest products," Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said in a statement on Thursday.
© Philippine Daily Enquirer (Philippines)-- 2008-03-11
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