Illegal logging has many harmful effects, ranging from biodiversity and soil loss, to an adverse impact on the global climate. The EU timber regulation, which came into force in March 2013, makes it a criminal offence to place illegal timber on the European market. For many, illegal deforestation seems to be a problem occurring in developing countries where rules and regulations are insufficiently enforced, but is illegal timber really a problem in the EU?

Following a recent study it seems that the new timber regulation is urgently needed to keep the European timber markets free from illegal wood. Quantifying illegal logging is difficult because of its clandestine nature, trading via third parties and the lack of a common definition of illegal timber. Nevertheless, the researchers from the Thünen Institute (Germany) managed to approximate how much illegal timber is traded yearly on the EU market.

Between 8 and 18 million m³ of illegal timber enters the European market every year. This is approximately 3-6 percent of all timber traded, including timber traded between member states. Between 5 and 10 million m³ of this timber originate from within the European Union.

For more information, click here.

The EU Timber Regulation which entered into force on 2 December 2010, made it illegal as of 3 March 2013 to place illegally harvested timber and timber products on the EU market. The legislation requires that due diligence is applied to all timber placed on the EU market and also that traders, further down the supply chain, keep track of who timber or timber products were bought from, and where applicable, who they were sold to. There is however concern that the EUTR will not be sufficient to keep illegal logging in check as implementation within Member States is still unclear. The proper execution of the EUTR will require adequate funding, trained personnel and also regular control visits to the supplier countries.

For procurers, the coming into force of the EUTR means that all timber and timber products sold on the European market will be from legal sources. However this change will not be immediate and in the meantime procurers should still ask for and verify proof of legality such as a FLEGT or CITES licenses or equivalent documentation. Timber certification schemes are not a sufficient proof of legality under EUTR but such timber is classified as low risk.

An important distinction has to be made between legal timber and sustainable timber. Even though the EUTR will significantly reduce the risk of illegality the legislation does not specify that timber has to come from sustainable sources. Therefore procuring sustainable timber and timber products will still require the bidders to provide proof of sustainable forest management as well, such as FSC or PEFC certification. In summary, while all timber and timber products certified for sustainable forest management have a low risk of being illegal not all timber that complies with EUTR is sustainable. A longer version of this article is available.

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The 13th Breakfast at Sustainability’s focused on sustainable timber, with a particular emphasis on the implementation of sustainable timber public procurement at the local level. Held at the European Forestry House, high-level speakers from across Europe, experts on timber certification and NGO representatives presented good practices and contributed to a vivid discussion.

The morning started with a comprehensive introduction to sustainable timber and the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) from MEP Kriton Arsenis, rapporteur for the EUTR. The regulation is an incentive for fairer agreements between the EU and timber supplying countries. Through discussion, it was found that further support is needed for local governments to implement the regulation. Subsequently, ICLEI zoomed in on the ongoing project “Sustainable Timber Action in Europe”, followed by a panel discussion with the EU Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition, ClientEarth, the European Forest Institute, FSC and PEFC.

Good practices presented highlighted the added value of FLEGT licensed timber, and generated discussion on the concept of timber legality blending into that of timber sustainability. Finally, the Sustainable Trade Initiative introduced the audience to a worldwide perspective on sustainable timber purchasing through their projects in the Amazon, the Congo basin and Guatemala, as well as presenting the EU Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition.

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COPADE had an intensive March, with an array of activities held to promote the sustainable purchasing and use of timber. In addition to the on-going sustainable timber public procurement training sessions, several activities were aimed at collecting stakeholders’ comments and feedback about the new timber standard Madera Justa, launched for public consultation at the beginning of 2013. All of these activities are part of the commitment to Madera Justa en Acción –the name by which STA is known in Spain- undertaken by COPADE as partners of the project.

In a bilateral workshop in San Pedro Sula (Honduras), COPADE held the first board meeting for Latin-American experts to comment on the current draft of the Madera Justa standard. Environmental organisations, forest cooperatives, professionals and timber companies attended the board meeting.

The principles of the Madera Justa standard and STA guidelines for forest communities were presented and subsequently analysed by representatives from tropical forest communities, who considered the social, economic and environmental problems related to unsustainable forest management in less developed countries. The consultation is now finalised and testing of the first pilot activities are set to commence in Guatemala.

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On 6 March 2013, the City of Rakvere (Estonia) hosted an STA seminar for local SMEs on how to supply sustainable timber to the public sector, which resulted in interesting and intense discussion. It was found that the topic of forest management, and particularly sustainable forest management, is very important for local entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in Estonia at times feel that legislative decisions are made by bureaucrats who lack forest experience - sustainability in theory and on paper is different to what is actually happening in the forests, they said. Participants urged the inclusion of practitioners in future sustainable forest management programmes.

Participants felt that more seminars about this topic are needed in Estonia and change will emerge from additional awareness raising campaigns. On the 7th March, the second seminar for local public authorities took place. At first, encouraging public authorities to join the seminar proved difficult. Many officials are under the impression that they are not actually involved in timber procurement or sustainable forest management, or only in a minor way. Only during the training session did they realise how many products are at least partially made from timber and how sustainable forest management could be taken into consideration when procuring them.

Again, participants from public authorities expressed that more awareness raising was needed to induce change in Estonia. They also stressed that the STA guide on buying sustainable timber gives a good theoretical base, but implementation is still a challenging prospect, as there are many gaps in the Estonian procurement legislation.

For more information on upcoming STA training seminars, click here.

Various tools have been developed and experiences gathered by organisations across the EU to help local authorities better engage in GPP of timber and timber products. To ensure stakeholders get the greatest benefit from these materials, IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative, ICLEI and Probos have jointly launched a resource database, allowing users to share and exchange valuable resources. The database is hosted on the Sustainable Timber Action website and complements the tools already available from the project.

“The public sector purchases an estimated 15 percent of all timber and paper sold in Europe each year, for building and civil construction, office and outdoor furniture, and office paper and stationery” explained Mark Hidson, Director of Sustainable Procurement at ICLEI. “If these products are sourced from sustainably managed forests it will have a hugely positive impact by shifting the market towards sustainably produced timber.”

The three organisations joined together to expand existing activities and facilitate exchange of tools and experiences. Patrick Jansen, Managing Director of Probos said: “The aim is simple: to bring GPP of (tropical) timber from commitment to compliance in various European countries and accelerate market transformation towards mainstream sustainability”. There are currently 75 resources to be found in the database, and organisations are encouraged to add more.

To view the database, click here.

The year 2013 marks the 300th anniversary of the concept of “sustainability”, the 20th anniversary of forest certification and the 10th anniversary of the EU FLEGT Action Plan. Reducing deforestation while maintaining tropical forests requires joint responsibility between producer, processing and consumer countries as well as between the public and private sector. The Forests for Future Generations Conference, taking place from 11 - 12 June 2013 in Berlin (Germany), will bring together participants from governments, private sector management, civil society, sustainability initiatives and development organisations around the world to identify options for alliances between the public and private sectors on sustainable forest management in the tropics.

The event aims to increase the market share of sustainable wood products and preserve remaining tropical forests. On the first conference day key note speeches and two high level panel discussions will discuss a variety of topics including synergies of regulatory approaches and private standards initiatives in existing regulations and policies, such as public procurement and sustainable building.

During the second conference day participants will break into working groups to engage in in-depth discussions on practical approaches and ways forward to implement sustainable forest management and competitive trading of verified sustainable timber. More detailed information on the conference programme, venue and registration will be available soon.

For more information, click here [in German].

Egypt is not known for its extensive forest areas, but rather for its deserts and lack of rain. A research project by the Technical University of Munich aims to change that. German and Egyptian experts have started the process of converting 200 hectares of degraded land to forest near the town of Ismailiya.

Robust tree species have been planted, which are irrigated using local (pre-treated) sewage water. The trees further clean the sewage water, which is rich in nutrients, enabling its sustainable discharge. At the same time the forest areas help to maintain ground water and hopefully may, once a more extensive forest ecosystem is established, attract more rain for the region.

Within the area, sustainable forest management practices are set up and disseminated by local experts. These experts will form the basis of future sustainable forest research at Egyptian universities. In the long run, sustainable forest creation could limit desertification in Egypt, support sewage treatment and provide local communities with sustainable timber and other forest products.

For more information, click here [in German].

Spanish STA partners COPADE and Madrid City Council held two free training seminars on responsible purchasing of timber products for public authorities from 11 - 12 December 2012, introducing participants to technical aspects related to legality and sustainability in the forestry sector, and related certification standards. The Spanish version of the STA Toolkit was also presented and examined.

The City of Madrid gave participants the benefit of its long experience in introducing sustainability criteria within timber public procurement contracts and policies. Aimed at procurement officers, environment and sustainability departments of public entities, universities, wood and timber industry associations and environmental NGOs, these events were co-funded by the European Union Programme Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development and Linking Europe programme, operated by IDH - The Sustainable Trade Initiative.

The trainings were delivered with the assistance of ETIFOR, a European consultancy specialised in corporate social responsibility in the forestry sector. Thanks to the support of IDH COPADE, a further six trainings will be held in Spain, taking place in; Dirección General de Universidades, Comunidad Autónoma de Cantabria, University of Vigo, Área de Medio Ambiente de la Diputación de Lugo, Montes y espacios naturales de Castilla de la Mancha, ETSII Industriales (University) and Madrid City Council, and Baleares, Palma de Mallorca, (Saltra Senalla -Fair trade organisation, partner of Madera Justa campaign).

For more information, click here.

Is your public authority looking for support in purchasing sustainable timber products? In the coming months, the STA project will provide 15 European public authorities with direct technical and legal assistance. Chosen public authorities will receive support specifically tailored to their needs.

Whether looking to purchase sustainable timber for the first time, increase public awareness or implement a long-term strategy for sustainable timber procurement, the STA piloting will provide the assistance needed to achieve each goal. Participating in the Pilot Cities initiative is free of charge.

To apply, please fill in this form or contact procurement@iclei.org. Pilot cities will be chosen in the coming weeks and will receive support until September 2013.

For more information, click here.