Supplying Timber Issue 9 0 - Autumn 2025 - Flipbook - Page 66
———— RETHINKING TROPICAL TIMBER ————
RETHINKING
TROPICAL
TIMBER
With a raft of new policy and market developments coming onstream – including the European Deforestation Regulation, a
new FLEGT licence for Ghana and a forest focus for COP30 – the
timber supply chain should be rethinking its inclusion of tropical
timber in their project designs.
TIMBER KNOWLEDGE
he world of tropical
timber has often been
cast in a negative
light. High-pro昀椀le
campaigns highlighting the
dangers of illegal logging
and the climate impacts of
deforestation have continued to
blight the image of a complex,
diverse sector which in reality
o昀昀ers the most positive means
to protect, manage and grow
the tropical forest base.
We can see at a European
level how, with the right
regulatory framework in place,
demand for more timber has
also helped create demand for
– and grow – the forest base
itself.
We should now be applying
the same principles in the
tropics. Tropical timber has
often been unfairly blamed for
deforestation. If we look at the
昀椀gures from World Resources
Institute Global Forest Review,
agriculture, mining and 昀椀re
have been the main sources
of tropical deforestation this
T
century. Meanwhile, the timber
industry has been instrumental
in developing sustainable
management practices, while
also being subject to far greater
regulation and scrutiny than
other commodities.
Certi昀椀cation schemes
Starting in the 1990s,
certi昀椀cation schemes such
as FSC and PEFC, backed by
NGOs, were pioneers in raising
awareness around illegal
logging and deforestation.
Seeking to counter this, they
helped introduce a corporate
environmental management
system covering supply chains:
from forest concessions to end
users.
Certi昀椀cation schemes set
strict management standards
for forestry companies to meet
within their de昀椀ned concession
areas, and against which they
can be audited for compliance
by a veri昀椀ed third party.
Those concessions who meet
the standards are awarded
SUPPLYING TIMBER
66
a certi昀椀cate and the timber
they produce can bear that
certi昀椀cate in a strictly audited
chain of custody to give clear
visibility to end users.
The impact of voluntary
certi昀椀cation should not be
underestimated: it has played a
key role in de昀椀ning sustainable
forest management, setting
standards to measure it and
developing processes to trace
timber across supply chains.
Regulatory processes
But the focus on sustainable
management has not stopped
at voluntary schemes. Perhaps
even more impactful has been
the work achieved in some
of the regulatory processes
introduced during VPA
Agreements under things like
the Forest Law Enforcement
Governance & Trade (FLEGT)
Action Plan.
This comprehensive regulatory
framework o昀昀ered a green lane
for the trade of forest products
into the EU in return for meeting
AUTUMN 2025
