Key Message from Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum 2023
Forests are critically important to climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development. Protecting forest resources and preserving the environment is our common responsibility.
When managed sustainably, forests conserve biodiversity, soil and water, filter air, prevent land degradation, and reduce the risk of natural disasters. Meanwhile, timber is a renewable, carbon storing, recyclable, and sustainable material, which has been an indispensable pillar of mankind for thousands of years.
When timber is legally and sustainably produced, processed, traded, and used, the industry enhances the value of standing forests, greatly reducing the risk of deforestation, and making a major contribution to the achievement of the sustainable development goals.
In many ways, this is a very difficult and challenging time for the global timber industry, which is a leading employer and contributor to the national economies of many countries. Perhaps for the first time all the major markets of the world are slowing at the same time – weighed under the economic volatility that followed on from the COVID pandemic, the threat of conflicts, trade wars, rising energy prices, climate change, and mounting pressure on resources.
However, the potential for timber to act as the cornerstone of modern circular economies gives encouragement that these challenges can be turned into opportunities. A sustainable and resilient timber industry will contribute to wealth creation and support the development of healthy lifestyles, while reducing the risk of climate change and other negative environmental impacts. Timber will also substitute for more energy and carbon intensive products in the building and furniture sectors.
Exploitation of these opportunities and long-term recovery in the global timber industry will depend on the legal and sustainable management of forests and associated supply chains. It requires the development of a strong international network to strengthen cooperation and share knowledge and experience of sustainable timber production and supply. The Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum held for the first time in Macau and planned to be held annually into the future, provides the key platform on which to build this global network.
Today, more than 700 representatives from 36 countries’ governments, enterprises, associations, international organizations, and research institutions gathered in Macau to attend this forum. After two days of extensive and in-depth discussion, the following consensus was reached on how to promote the legal and sustainable development of the global timber industry and accelerate its recovery:
· Faced with complex and variable threats and challenges, there is an urgent need to establish strong networks and partnerships, built on mutual respect and trust, in support of legal and sustainable forest management and timber supply chains.
· Building and improving legal and sustainable timber supply chains are key nature-based solutions.
· Supporting and promoting legal and sustainable timber and timber products trade will facilitate a stable, fair, transparent, and predictable environment for the future recovery and growth of the global timber industry.
· Creation of Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum is necessary to promote cooperation and information exchange between the public and private sectors.
· The Global Timber Index (GTI) provides a valuable platform to improve the quality and regularity of timber market information, to encourage greater information exchange between and within the private sector, and thereby enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of policy formulation in relation legal and sustainable trade.
· Applying advanced technology, tools, and methods to ensure the legitimacy and sustainability of timber sources, including the implementation of sustainable forest management and digital timber traceability, exploring the establishment and operations of a traceability system based on blockchain technology, and compliance with legal and sustainable timber standards is highly recommended.
· Innovative financial mechanisms, such as payments for environmental services, need to be further developed and utilized to increase investment in support of sustainable forest management and green supply chains.
· Legal and sustainable timber industrial parks should be established to foster enterprises that will provide models for the wider industry and thereby accelerate the adoption of legal and sustainable best practices and advanced technologies.
· The global timber industry needs additional support to adopt advanced technology, machinery, and equipment, thereby accelerating the intelligent and digital development of the global timber industry.
Let's work together by connecting, cooperating, and sharing, to accelerate the sustainable recovery of global timber markets, and promote legal and sustainable timber supply chains, by jointly building the Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum, Macao.
