Verification Systems for the Timber Trade : learning from International Processes

Policy Conclusions Verification requirements vary according to the interests of their proponents, as well as their (often multiple) objectives. When applied in technically complex environments, with diverse and potentially conflicting constituencies, verification needs to be viewed as a complex process of investigation and validation, with wide participation, and not merely as an act of technical inspection. There are a number of principles for effective verification design, including: the need for a supreme authority with the ability to bring decisions to closure; the capacity to prevent migration to non-parties; broad and inclusive structures of participation; strong positive incentives to comply; and capacity for independent oversight. Verification systems need to be designed so as to strengthen public governance; this favours a systems approach, putting as much emphasis on the interactions between actors as on their individual identities, and ensuring that information which is generated is independent of all interests, but made publicly available in a transparent way.