Research conducted by the Probos foundation shows that the market share of tropical FSC certified timber on the Dutch market increased from 15.5% in 2008 to 39% in 2011. The research also concludes that in 2011 65.7% of the total share of wood on the Dutch market could be tracked to a sustainable source, for the Paper and Cardboard sector this accounted for 32.8%. FSC the Netherlands considers the strong growth of FSC certified timber from the tropics as an incentive to further promote FSC certification within the tropical forest industry.
“The doubling of the market share of FSC certified tropical timber is of course great news!” explains Liesbeth Gort, General Director of FSC the Netherlands. “But this is no reason to lean back, as illegal logging still is a very pressing issue. Every day large numbers of hectares of tropical forest are logged and communities and animals living within these forests are becoming more vulnerable every day. This motivates us to stimulate the demand for FSC certified tropical timber from sustainable origin and motivate organizations to demand more than legal wood products.”
By certification and responsible management of forests economic value is added to a forest, which makes it possible to secure the forest for future generations. At this moment 20 million hectare of tropical forest is FSC-certified, which represents 6% of the total area of tropical forest used for production. Various initiatives are committed to increase this share.
In the research conducted by Probos the definition for sustainable timber and paper was derived from a definition used by the Dutch government in public procurement. FSC and PEFC certified timber and paper, with exception from MTCS certified timber are considered to fulfil the definition and are qualified as sustainable by the independent TPAC committee.
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