New Year must bring new resolve

As Christmas approaches, I am lucky to be writing from a beautiful new building which manages to bring the outside in - WWF UK's new Living Planet Centre, in the centre of Woking. I can't wait for our FSC project certification to be finalised, and the plaque to go up on the door.

With the year's work nearly at an end, and the darker nights, you can feel ready for a break and few nights in front of the telly. Yet I'm feeling pretty energised and would ideally like to blast straight into the new year. Why? It's partly down to the airy feel of the amazing eco home I find myself working in today - and mainly because 2014 and 2015 will present us with major opportunities to prove we want a fairer and greener market for forest goods.

This time last year we were waiting for the incoming EU Timber Regulation (EUTR). We already knew finding and demonstrating illegality for timber would be hard, implementation may be slow and patchy across Europe, and that it would be active due diligence by many businesses that would make our market legal only as a minimum.

The EUTR came in, and time pressed on, including for the state of global forests. I've been anxious about moving the sustainability agenda for forests forward - as legality alone won't make all our futures bright when we consider the future demand for timber resources worldwide, the ability of our forests to cope, and the impacts predicted on climate, people and nature.

Fortunately, over the next two years, we have the chance to drive sustainability home in the timber trade proper and beyond. New European and UK governments will come in, and the timber regulation will move towards its review. We have an enabling environment with business, government and NGOs all wanting to halt deforestation and forest degradation by 2020. All the right ingredients for being forest positive, in fact.

What we don't have, in global forest terms, is lots of time. 2014 and 2015 must be made to count as together we set - no, drive - a new vision of how we will achieve our shared goal of a sustainable future for forests by 2020. That is what I would like for Christmas. What is stopping our forest trade from being completely sustainable? Can we value forests better for all the services they provide? Can we overcome the obstacles to put global forests on a different trajectory by 2020? We may have asked these questions before, but must wake ourselves in the new year, shake off complacency and tackle them again with new resolve.

It is our great get fit challenge for 2014 and beyond. See you there!