Not perfect, but progress

We live in interesting times. Having been told so clearly that the election was 'too close to call' and that there was no chance of a majority government, it came as a shock to find that's precisely what we got. The certainty of the information we were receiving was shattered.

Now we're back into our everyday lives and the usual battles that we face on a trading day, trying to win orders and service them. The election soon seeps into the background. What we also want is certainties and rules to play by, so that we can get on with those tasks, without worrying about whether they'll all change or be left up in the air.

I recently attended a discussion at Chatham House, the think-tank for international affairs. It centred on the EU efforts over the last twelve years or so, to help developing countries bring their timber to our market in an orderly way.

In other words legal timber as a minimum and it goes by the name of the EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade initiative, or EU FLEGT for short. We also looked at government procurement to see how it is affecting the market for certified timber, and the EU Timber Regulation.

One really positive outcome from these discussions was how far our industry has travelled during that time. A wonderful example was when discussions turned to other sectors with deforestation impacts; beef, soy, palm oil, tea and coffee. The question was raised on how government was dealing with these and how it was setting up systems to ensure governance.

It soon became apparent just how far behind us these industries are in terms of traceability and that they need to take on board many of the lessons we've already learned in timber.

I was also recently listening to a radio interview with the new chief executive of the largest manufacturer of computer microchips in the world.

She explained that they recognised that they had almost no traceability on where the ingredients for their micro chips came from and how they were developing some radical ideas on how to tackle this, which included chain of custody. Wow! That's really innovative - we've been doing it for years!

Many of us share absolute frustration at the extraordinary length of time that has been taken by the EU on our behalf to get any progress on EU FLEGT and see the first shipments of FLEGT-licensed timber from producer countries, which will be ready legally-assured and exempt from further due diligence under the EUTR. However, while it still only leaves them with just legal rather than legal and certified sustainable wood, EU FLEGT has been a game-changer in many countries on how to manage their forests.

What is more, the EUTR itself, and the accompanying due diligence obligations it imposes, are now being seen as examples not just for the timber sector elsewhere, but also other industries to follow.

We have to accept that as far as environmental issues and their management in the global timber industry are concerned, the job is not done yet. But every now and then it's quite satisfying to see that we've come a long way and we're a lot better than we sometimes give ourselves credit for - let's vote for that!