Project to boost EU tropical timber sales

The EU Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition (STTC) has been set up by a Dutch government-backed public partnership organisation IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative) and is a response to declining tropical sales in Europe over recent years.

Imports were hit by the economic downturn and there are now fears that the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) could cause a further decline, due to perceptions that tropical wood is generally higher risk of illegality and the efforts of alternative timber and other materials suppliers to capitalise on these concerns and offer their products as substitutes.

The consequence of the market for sustainable tropical timber shrinking, says the IDH, could be to hamper the introduction of sustainable management practices in tropical forests.

The STTC aims to create a network of industry organisations, NGOs and initially 20 private timber companies, five national governments and 20 local authorities across Europe. This, in turn, would promote the cause of sustainable tropical timber and help influence public and private procurement through communication and networking.

The STTC is also being backed by the FSC, PEFC, WWF Global Forest & Trade Network and the ATIBT international tropical timber industry association.

The official launch takes place in Amsterdam on November 6.

For more, contact Carolien de Boer at deboer@idhsustainabletrade.com.