About GLSTF

The Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) is co-hosted by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), and organized by the Secretariat of the Global Green Supply Chain Initiative (GGSC). The aim of the Forum is to increase networking, collaboration and business exchange among timber industry stakeholders—producers, buyers, processors and market players—with a view to promoting sustainable forest management, creating legal and sustainable wood product supply chains, facilitating the legal and sustainable use and trade of wood products in a stable, transparent and predictable business environment, and contributing to sustainable development and climate change mitigation.

Date and Venue

The Forum is scheduled to be held annually starting in 2023.

GLSTF 2023, held for the first time in Macao, successfully concluded on 22 November, 2023.

The 2nd GLSTF may be held on 11-12 September, 2024 (TBC).

Theme

Theme of GLSTF 2023 is “Connect, Cooperate and Share to Promote the Recovery of the Global Tropical Timber Market".

Forum Structure

GLSTF 2023 comprised two components:

1) The Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum (main forum) .

2) Several specialized sub-forums.

Specialized sub-forums organized by partner agencies to contribute to the theme of the main forum. The topics were related to timber legality and sustainability; sustainable timber resources, markets and trade; advanced technology and machinery for wood processing; green finance and innovative facilitating measures for green supply chains.

In addition, an exhibition area was set up at the venue to display wood materials, wood flooring, and more. The outputs of a number of major international collaborative research projects were released for the first time at this year’s forum, including the “Establishment and Operation of the Global Timber Index (GTI) Platform” and the “Report of Pilot Collaborative Operation of the Blockchain-based Timber Traceability System (BTTS)”. Moreover, there were also concurrent business matching sessions to create global business opportunities.

Participants

The Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum 2023 brought together about 700 representatives from government departments, well-known timber enterprises, international organizations and research institutes in 36 countries and regions.

The Forum featured simultaneous interpretation in Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, providing an important platform for not only promoting legal and sustainable timber trade, but also strengthening international cooperation and exchanges.