The event, on November 6 in Amsterdam, was hosted by IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative), the Dutch government-backed public-private partnership behind the initiative. Other countries represented at the launch included Belgium, France, the UK, Germany and Norway.
The STTC is a response to falling tropical timber sales in Europe. This is seen partly as the consequence of the economic downturn, but, according to IDH, there are now growing concerns that demand may be further hit by the EU Timber Regulation due to the still widespread perception that tropical timber generally is at greater risk of being illegally sourced.
The consequence, it is feared, could be to reduce incentives for tropical regions to introduce sustainable forest management and achieve certification.
The STTC includes timber companies, retailers and other businesses, NGOs, industry organisations, local authorities and national governments.
It will develop a promotional and information programme to highlight the availability of sustainable tropical timber, and benefits of using it, with a target of increasing certified material’s share of the EU tropical timber market from the current 10-11%, to 30% by 2015.
