European market for verified sustainable tropical timber grows

The Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition, founded by IDH in 2013, has made significant progress towards its goal of building partnerships for growing the European market for verified sustainable tropical timber.

Next week in Aarhus, Denmark, the STTC partners meet for the third time, to solidify the progress made.

Tropical timber continues to be associated with illegal logging and deforestation. Lack of awareness of the availability of sustainably sourced timber from well-managed tropical forests, and the social and environmental benefits of sustainable forest management, has made the market for verified sustainable tropical timber suffer.

The STTC platform supports policy plans and action plans to improve this situation. Since the start, the STTC has grown into a European brand and platform and is now supporting 20 action and policy plans at companies and organizations across Europe, aimed at increasing the demand for verified sustainable tropical timber.

Projects for example include working with architects and construction companies to encourage their use of sustainable tropical timber. New coalitions of companies promoting the market for sustainable tropical timber have also emerged, such as the lesser known timber species (LKTS) network in Denmark.

Next week, the partners will meet at the 2017 European Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition Conference, to exchange on how to sell the positive story that sustainably sourced tropical timber has to tell, and take the partnership to the next level.

Part of the STTC Conference in Aarhus (Denmark) is a visit to the Kulbro View, a prestigious installation undertaken by the Danish LKTS consortium to demonstrate the performance of these tropical timber species.

While the STTC has made significant progress, IDH sees more to be done in its mission to grow awareness of verified sustainable tropical timber, and, of course, to drive sales in the marketplace. Because only with a strong demand for sustainable tropical timber will tropical forests remain under sustainable management.