Sustainable timber harvesting through certification

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Timber is a truly global industry, in which purchasing decisions can have an impact on landscapes and livelihoods across the world.

The global timber industry has an enormous economic and environemntal impact. The annual turnover of roundwood, sawnwood, panels, pulp and paper exceeds US$200 billion. (1) Three major world regions, North America, Europe, and Asia, dominate the market in industrial wood products. North America alone accounts for about 40 percent of both production and consumption. Consumption in Asia is rising dramatically, and the region is now a net importer of wood products, especially pulp for paper-making. Developing countries are increasingly part of the global timber market. Production and export of tropical wood products, such as plywoods and veneers, have also grown two- to threefold in the last 30 years. (2)

The timber trade is intimately tied to the biggest environmental challenges facing the world. We depend on forests for essential environmental services such as watershed protection, biodiversity protections, and carbon sequestration. Illegal logging and deforestation degrade valuable ecosystems, put futher pressure on endangered species, and fuel conflicts and corruption. By purchasing certain forest products, we may inadvertently be contributing to environmentally harmful forestry practices around the corner or across the world.

How can purchasers (from big companies down to individual consumers) be sure that the timber they depend on are coming from sustainably managed forests?

One answer is third party certification of forest operations. With forest certification, an independent organization develops standards of good forest management, and independent auditors issue certificates to forest operations that comply with those standards. This certification verifies that forests are well-managed—as defined by a particular standard—and ensures that certain wood and paper products come from responsibly managed forests. This rise of certification led to the emergence of several different systems throughout the world. As a result, there is no single accepted forest management standard worldwide, and each system takes a somewhat different approach in defining standards for sustainable forest management. (3)

(1)UN FAO , www.fao.org/forestry/site/trade/en

(2) World Resources Institute, http://pdf.wri.org/critcons.pdf#search='global%20wood%20consumption'

(3)Metafore, http://www.metafore.org/index.php?p=About+Certification&s=153