Timber Legality and Sustainability

Specialized Sub-forum on Timber Legality and Sustainability

Session 1: Updates on legality and sustainability requirements in the supply chains of timber and timber products

Session 2: Updates on advanced tools and technologies for timber legality and sustainability

Time and Venue

Time: 22 November 2023, 09:00-13:10

Venue: Hall A, Galaxy International Convention Center, Macao SAR, China

Co-organizers

ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization) and ETTF (European Timber Trade Federation)

Background

Several policy initiatives have been taken both in the public and private sector to promote demand and trade of timber and timber products from legal and sustainable supply chains (LSSC), including the implementation of sustainable forest management and its independent certification, chain-of-custody certification and other measures to establish traceability of wood products to their origin in the forest, verification of legal compliance and the adoption of responsible public and private purchasing/procurement policies, green building standards, etc.

Forest-based enterprises and international trade add value to tropical forests and can contribute significantly to sustainable economies and livelihoods. There is evidence, however, that the share of tropical wood in major import markets is affected by the negative environmental image of tropical wood and by its substitution by non-tropical wood and non-renewable materials (e.g., plastics, non-wood laminates, concrete and metals). This suggests that some consumer markets are overlooking the significant benefits of tropical timber as a renewable, environmentally friendly resource.

For decades, tropical timber has grappled with numerous challenges and even threats as it struggles to maintain its stake in the international timber markets. From the threats of bans and boycotts in the seventies and eighties and now saddled with the latest challenges of complying with laws prohibiting the importation of illegal timber being imposed by major importing countries. It is now essential and urgent for tropical timber producing countries and the international tropical timber trade to adopt a positive and proactive approach to addressing the priority challenges of weak forest governance through clear and coherent strategies for reforming and strengthening forest governance and reining in illegal logging and trade more efficiently and effectively. This should form the basis for the development and implementation of a national timber legality assurance system (TLAS) that can withstand international scrutiny and meet legal requirements of all international markets, including the recent development with EUDR.

Sustainable forest management is one such solution because it generates legally and sustainably produced wood -the most environmentally friendly construction materials -and many other products and services. Sustainable use and trade of forest resources is central to their conservation outside of protected areas as well as securing the livelihoods of forest dependents communities and the sustainable development of rural economies.

This specialized sub-forum will discuss issues related to timber legality and sustainability among different stakeholders and share knowledge on the application of existing tools and techniques to support achieving the objectives of LSSC.

Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this specialized sub-forum is to share experiences and to learn from different points of views voiced by actors along the supply chains of timber and timber products on aspects related to timber legality and sustainability.

The specialized sub-forum will be divided into two sessions: 1) Updates on legality and sustainability requirements in the supply chains of timber and timber products; 2) Application of advanced tools and technologies for timber legality and sustainability.

Session 1

Concerned over illegal logging and its associated trade contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation and wishing not to be associated any longer with these persistent problems, major consumers have decided to enact laws to regulate their market, giving preference to legality and sustainability, such as EUDR.

More importantly, we need to know whether and how far will the impact of these regulations be on efforts to combat illegal logging, poor governance, deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics and whether there are any significant unintended consequences that may arise for the tropical timber trade and industry.

This will lead to a synthesis of lessons that can inform the development and implementation of timber legality policies, strategies and action plans by governments, private sector, civil society organizations, SMEs and local communities.

Session 2

The Sub-forum will also highlight the role of advanced tools and technologies to support authorities and traders in identifying the legality and sustainability of traded timber and timber products. Selected timber identification tools developed by research institutions, universities and NGOs will be invited to share their technologies.

Participants

150-200 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 of cross-sectoral collaboration and partnership.

CONTACT PERSONS

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

Programme and Schedule