Deal Between Vietnam, EU Would Target Illegal Logging

The European Union wants to ensure its Ikea cabinets and Conforama desks are made from legal timber, and it’s turning to the source, or at least one of them: Vietnam.

A pending deal with the EU requires Vietnam to tighten laws and enforcement against illegal logging, mostly from over the border with Cambodia but previously from Laos.

Vietnam imports wood from more than 100 countries for processing, but its second-biggest source of tropical timber is Cambodia, which has a rampant problem of loggers cutting in protected forests and threatening environmentalists.

The EU Parliament in February endorsed the Vietnam-EU Voluntary Partnership ...