Maintaining the momentum - marketing legal and sustainable timber

This year's ITTFD will provide a forum for discussion and present ideas and initiatives on improving the marketing of legal and sustainable timber in order to increase its visibility, to highlight its value added and boost its market demand. Consumers, planning architects, engineers and building specifiers must understand the difference between legal and illegal materials to be able to source the right product. Furthermore, appropriate legislation, codes of conduct and properly implemented Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) must support these dynamics to give businesses in tropical countries the incentive to invest in good forest management and to ensure that additional producer country governments see the value in negotiating VPAs. Last but not least, certified timber should be given fair credit in sustainability standards in other sectors such as construction, to avoid alternative materials like concrete and steel being rated as more sustainable than timber. Only by promoting and boosting the demand and market for responsible timber will producers see the benefits of legal and sustainable forest management and commit to it.

For further information, please check on http://www.tft-forests.org/ttap/page.asp?p=6232