Timber Legality and Sustainability

Specialized Sub-forum on

Timber Legality and Sustainability:

 

‘Addressing Uncertainty in Global Timber Trade Barriers’

Time and Venue

 Time: 24 September 2025, 09:00-13:30

 Venue: MGM COTAI, Macao SAR, China

Organizer

 International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)

 
 Background

Several interacting market factors can cause further deforestation and forest degradation. Policy action, therefore, requires using multiple policy interventions simultaneously. Ensuring legal and sustainable supply chains of tropical timber requires optimizing the utilization and improving productivity of production forests, efficient timber processing, supportive national policies and regulations, strong human resources and a robust platform for consumer-producer collaborations. A key requirement of legal and sustainable timber supply chains is compliance with all relevant legal frameworks. 

When timber is legally and sustainably produced, processed, traded, and used, the industry and trading sector enhance the value of timber and timber products along the supply chains. The economic viability of sustainable tropical forestry is often marginal at best, with returns from sustainable timber production and other marketable goods and services comparing poorly to those of alternate land uses.

Tropical timber has continually grappled with numerous challenges and even threats in the international timber markets. The recent development on global timber and timber products trade indicates uncertainty in the requirements imposed and proposed by consumer markets. This issue must be addressed by bridging the gaps between demand and supply and ensuring readiness of the producers to respond to the dynamics of timber trade requirements in global markets.

International timber trade is an integral part of the global economy in meeting the needs of countries. Trade barriers are government-imposed restrictions on the flow of goods and services for several reasons between countries. There are several types of trade barriers (tariff and non-tariff), namely protective tariffs, import quotas, trade embargoes, and voluntary export restraints.

Trade barriers to timber trade play an important role in the forest economics sector and impact on economic growth of, especially producer countries. Barriers to timber trade cover import and export restrictions/quota and environmental regulations. These barriers can affect the global buying and selling of timber products. Consequently, trade barriers can often have negative consequences, such as reducing competition and stifling innovation.

Producer countries often respond by strengthening their policies and regulations, production infrastructures, and human resources to ensure only legal and sustainable timber traded along legal and sustainable supply. At the same time, the opportunity to utilize and develop advanced technology and innovations should be explored to help address challenges and opportunities caused by the dynamic timber trade barriers.

Consumer countries simultaneously need to consider the practicality and viability of some market barriers that are in place, weighing the rate of success in meeting the objectives of introducing these market barriers in the first place and whether they meet the requirements of agreed international trade rules. 

 Purpose and Scope

This specialized sub-forum will discuss current issues related to timber trade barriers among different stakeholders. Understanding the issues will support stakeholder readiness from both timber consumer and producer countries enabling their responses to challenges and opportunities encountered. The producing countries need to consider strengthening their policies and regulations, production infrastructures, and human resources to ensure only legal and sustainable timber is traded along legal and sustainable supply chains. At the same time, the opportunity to utilize and develop advanced technology and innovations should be explored to help address challenges and opportunities caused by the dynamic timber trade barriers.

Consumer countries simultaneously need to examine the practicality and viability of market barriers that are put in place, particularly the consequences of such barriers being introduced and whether they meet the requirements of agreed international trade rules.

The purpose of this specialized sub-forum is to share experiences and to learn from different views voiced by actors along the supply chains of timber and timber products on aspects related to international timber trade barriers. Informing the existing and direction of development of advanced technology and innovations will facilitate respective authorities and business actors of consumer and producer countries to deal with timber trade barriers at national, regional and global scale. 

The specialized sub-forum will be divided into two sessions as follows:

Session 1: Effects of timber trade barriers on legal and sustainable supply chains

The legal and sustainable supply chains of timber and timber products will be impacted by measures related to imposed timber trade barriers. The wood product sector now faces significant challenges with the uncertainty in the implementation and current development of trade regulations imposed in major timber and timber products markets.

Session 1 will discuss the dynamics of timber and timber products trade with regard to barriers that need to be anticipated and dealt with by all actors along the supply chains. Regulations are of course essential to build legal and sustainable supply chains, but trade regulations in major timber consuming markets need to be reasonable and attainable where producer countries need support and investment in capacity building to allow their continuing market access with minimized barriers. There should be regulations that do not unnecessarily add barriers that might undermine the relative competitive position of legal and sustainable timber.

More importantly, we need to know whether and how far the impacts of imposed trade barriers will affect industry and trade economies in producer countries. This will lead to a synthesis of lessons that can inform the development and implementation of timber trade policies, strategies and action plans by governments, private sector, (including SMEs), civil society organizations, and local communities. 

Session 2: Appropriate innovations in response to evolved challenges of legal and sustainable timber supply chains

In Session 2, the discussion will highlight the role of advanced technologies and innovations to support the stakeholders along the supply chains of timber and timber products to address challenges and opportunities of timber trade barriers to minimize its negative impacts.

 Key Topics

-    Effects of timber trade barriers on legal and sustainable supply chains

  • Anticipating new tariff scheme imposed for timber and timber products.
  • EU deforestation-free regulation.
  • Regulations of major markets on combating illegal logging to producer countries.
  • Voice from producer country in response to timber trade barriers in international markets.
  • Specific measures introduced/Steps taken by producer country to meet international timber market regulations.

-    Appropriate innovations in response to evolved challenges of timber legal and sustainable supply chains

  • The use of block-chains technology to support legal and sustainable supply chains.
  • Development of innovative integrated timber data in the Asia-Pacific for enhancing legal timber trade.
  • Advantages of DNA analysis for Wood traceability.
  • Development of AI wood identification to strengthen timber supply chains.
  • Empowering forest enforcement activities at log export points through innovation initiatives and stakeholder collaboration.
 Participants

120-150 participants are expected to represent government, business actors, trade and industry organizations, academics, and civil society. Ensuring diversity among stakeholders present at this event will allow for fruitful debate and strengthening collaboration and partnership among stakeholders.

 Contact Persons

ITTO Secretariat: Tetra Yanuariadi – tetra@itto.int; Elsie Yang – yang@itto.int; Mr. Li Qiang – li@itto.int