Tropical Timber

Pushing the market over the tipping point

Between 12 to 15 million hectares of forest is lost each year, the equivalent of 36 football fields per minute. Logging and expansion of agriculture take a toll on tropical forest in these regions.

Trade in certified sustainably produced timber and other forest products is a proven mechanism for promoting sustainable forest management. The two largest certification schemes are the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). FSC is most widely used in the tropical timber regions; only 6% of all tropical forests   worldwide are sustainably managed.

The IDH Tropical Timber program focuses on sustainable forest management. It consists of five elements. Through three tropical timber programs, concession holders in the Amazon (The Amazon Alternative, TAA), Borneo (The Borneo Initiative, TBI) and the Congo Basin (the Congo Basin Program, CBP) are supported on their way towards sustainable forest management. The other two activities aim to increase the demand for sustainable tropical timber in the Netherlands (cooperation with FSC Netherlands) and in other countries in Europe (the Linking Europe program, LE) respectively. Sufficient demand is an important success factor for sustainable forest management in the production countries. Read more about the Tropical Timber Program.

For more information, please visit the EU Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition website: http://www.eusttc.com.

Download our report on Mainstreaming Sustainability in Tropical Timber (1.7 Mb)

Program at a glance

Impact on MDGs
	600,000 ha sustainable certification for local small producers	13 million ha of tropical forest certified	At least 50% ofTropical timber on the  Dutch market min. 50% sustainable
Sustainable Economic Growth	Both concession holder with large forests and small producers and communities are supported to manage forest sustainably helping to maintain their source of income.
Private Sector Development	Strengthening of local concession holders in The Amazon, Borneo, the Congo Basin by providing training to improve capacity for FSC certification of natural forest. Concession holders are also provided better access to the international market.
Economic Empowerment	Support is given in the process of reorganizing the supply chain towards more local processing in developing countries.
Importance for the Netherlands	The timber sector has an annual turnover of € 438 millionin The Netherlands and provides 8.000 direct FTEs.

Sustainable management of tropical forests is probably the most powerful alternative way of consolidating the so–called economy of the tropical forests. It’s crucial for the survival of tropical forests in Asia, Africa and the Amazon.’
Roberto Waack,
CEO Amata and member of the Board of Directors of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)