Welcome change of tropical heart

In 2009 Swedish timber flooring giant Kährs had its fingers burned by dubious legality verification certificates on some Brazilian hardwood and opted for the ultimate sanction. It axed tropical hardwoods entirely from its range. Now, however, it has decided, in turn, to axe its “No Tropicals Policy” and to start using limited volumes of FSC-certified material.

According to its environmental “ambassador” Bruce Uhler, Kährs came to the conclusion that its tropical boycott was counterproductive. The aim had been to avoid any risk of using illegally felled timber and the consequent association with deforestation. But in not using tropical timber from sustainably managed sources, it risked undermining these and removing commercial incentive for forest owners to go for environmental certification and legality verification.

“People need to make a living from their trees,” Mr Uhler told TTJ. “And if we give them the impression we don’t want their timber, they’ll see their forest only for the value of the ground beneath it. Either they’ll burn the wood for fuel, or convert it to agriculture”.

Underlining its change of heart, Kährs is also now involved in a pioneering dual FSC and Fair Trade certification project to source roblé and rauli and other species from Chile.

Encouragingly, according to comments in our Focus on Tropical Timber, other retailers and end users take the same view. Both Jeld-Wen and the Performance Window Group continue to see sustainably, legally sourced tropical timber as a key part of their raw material mix. IKEA doesn’t use it as it doesn’t currently suit its product aesthetics, but it recognises sustainable timber production as a means of helping preserve the tropical forest. B&Q is actively involved in projects to encourage forestry companies and timber producers towards certification to secure its tropical timber and panel products supplies into the future.

There continue to be major challenges for the tropical sector. Many end-users, specifiers, retailers and consumers still don’t have the enlightened, informed view of the IKEAs and B&Qs of this world and view tropical timber as synonymous with deforestation.

According to timber trade responses to our vox pop, the upcoming EU Illegal Timber Regulation (ITR) could also reinforce suspicion and prejudice about tropical supplies and prompt some buyers to opt instead for what they perceive as lower risk, easier-to-deal-with temperate alternatives.

The view is that more needs to be done too to encourage the market to use secondary or alternative species, to avoid putting too much strain on supplies of the old favourites.

It’s also felt that more effort should go into educating buyers and the public about the availability and benefits of using verified sustainable and legal tropical wood.

But the overall picture is that the tropical sector can have a bright future. The change in attitude towards it of leading retailers and manufacturers is not the only positive. As our piece on Rougier confirms, suppliers are also making further significant headway in increasing the area of certified or verified legal tropical forest.

Rougier is also among those upping the marketing effort for tropical. In fact it is now involved in the making of a movie on West African sustainable forestry. Such efforts should help dissuade others from adopting Kährs’ now defunct No Tropicals Policy. That has to be good for the timber trade, timber end users, retailers, and ultimately the producers, the forests and the environment.