International Forum: Together Towards Global Green Supply Chains –A Forest Products Industry Initiative

Recent scientific research shows that the gap between the global demand and supply of timber and wood products is expected to widen significantly by 2050 as a result of continued deforestation and forest degradation and a sharp increase in societal needs for wood, fibre and energy from rapidly growing populations, especially in the tropics. Simultaneously, productive forests and forest products need to play a pivotal role in climate-change mitigation by protecting carbon stocks, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and increasing carbon storage and substituting for non-renewable materials and energy. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report, released in October 2018, global climate goals cannot be achieved without a rapid transition towards a biobased and decarbonized economy, which must be based on legal and sustainable production and consumption along the entire supply chain.

In response to such challenges and changing demand in consumer markets underpinned by legality and sustainability requirements, ITTO will co-convene the international forum, “ Together Towards Global Green Supply Chains”, in Shanghai and Huzhou, China, on 22–25 October 2019. The forum will highlight the importance of legal and sustainable wood product supply chains and promote the establishment of a platform to facilitate business exchanges and collaboration among wood product producers, buyers, industries and markets worldwide.

Specifically, the forum will:
 

• Raise the profile of productive forests and their contributions to climate-change mitigation and sustainable development
• Review the role of the private sector in climate-change mitigation and sustainable development
• Identify issues related to legality and sustainability in global wood supply chains and define the need to build capacities for sustainable forest management and deforestation-free practices
• Discuss challenges and opportunities in demand and supply in global wood supply chains
• Encourage the trade in legal and sustainable timber and wood product supply chains globally
• Make recommendations for promoting partnerships in global green wood supply chains now and into the future.

The forum is an outcome of ITTO's Legal and Sustainable Supply Chain programme, financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Germany (BMEL). The Forum will be co-organized by ITTO, the China Timber & Wood Products Distribution Association (CTWPDA), the Centre for International Forest Products Trade (CINFT) of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China (NFGA), and the International Tropical Timber Technical Association (ATIBT). The Forum is supported by the China Green Carbon Foundation (CGCF), the CTWPDA Hardwood Sub-Committee, the Shanghai Timber Trade Association (STTA) and the Global Green Supply Chain Secretariat. The European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the French Development Agency (AFD), the German Development Bank (KfW) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) are providing additional financial support for various themes to be discussed at the forum.  

To learn more and download the presentations, click here.