Promoting sustainable
wood use for climatechange mitigation
COP 28 Japan Pavilion Seminar
5 December 2023
Sheam SATKURU
Executive Director, ITTO

INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION (ITTO)

Tropical forests—vital for planetary wellbeing

Forests cover 31% of the planet’s land surface, and areamong the world’s most productive land-based ecosystems:
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Conserve soil and water
Filter the air we breathe, mitigates climate
Prevent land degradation and desertification
Host terrestrial biodiversity
Reduce the risk of floods, landslides, droughts and other disasters, amongothers

Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for theirsubsistence.
Tropical forests represent 45% of all forests (1.84 billion
has—22% in Latin America, 16% in Africa and 7% in Southand Southeast Asia).
Over 70% of global population in extreme poverty live inthe tropics.
Recent IMF Report – economic imbalance globally sees 95
million living in acute poverty today.
CRITICAL TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OFTROPICAL FORESTS!

Benefits of sustainable tropical forestry
 The sustainable harvesting, processing andtrade of tropical timber and other forest
products:Supplies residential and commercial consumers
worldwide,
Contributes to local and national economies, andEnhances value to tropical forests—a key factor in
reducing forest conversion to other economic landuses.

 When sustainably managed, tropical forests
are:
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Healthy, productive and renewable ecosystems.
Contribute to nature-based solutions.
The sustainable management of forests is of criticalimportance for most SDGs, in particular:

The International Tropical Timber Organization’s
mission Promote the sustainable management
and conservation of tropical forests.
 Promote the expansion anddiversification of trade in tropical woodfrom sustainably managed and legally
harvested forests.
The International Tropical Timber
Organization (ITTO) is THE SOLE intergovernmental organization focused entirelyon tropical forest resources.

ITTO Pilot Programme Lines
 Legal & Sustainable Supply
Chains (LSSC)
 Conservation of Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services
 Forest Landscape Restoration
and Resilient Livelihoods
 Emerging Issues andInnovation

Timber tracking projects
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ITTO projects have established timber tracking systems in:

Cameroon,
Ecuador,Guatemala,Panama,Philippines.

Strengthening the capacity of forest companies to control theirflows of timber;
Improving efficiency across the supply chain;
Facilitating the monitoring and control of forest products by theauthorities and combatting illegal logging;
Improving forest governance; andAssuring the legality and sustainability of harvested timber.

The tracking projects have advance sustainable forest
management and nature-based solutions by:

Recently a project in Guatemala released an app to calculate log
volumes requiring only photographs and a few simple measurements.
See:
www.itto.int/news/2023/06/09/itto_project_releases_app_for_calcul
ating_timber_volumes_in_products_using_smartphones

Long-standing work on market access,traceability, certification, etc.
Technical reports conducted on:The impact of timber procurement policies

Uses and impacts of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management

Review of electronic and semi-electronic timber tracking technologies

Assessment of major developments in technical and environmental standards
in selected major international timber markets

Analysis of global trends impacting on the relative competitiveness of tropicalwood productsThe pros and cons of timber procurement policies

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Developing forest certification

Many more …

Updates on issues related to tropical timber market access andcertification are presented at ITTC sessions.

www.itto.int/technical_report/

ITTO’s continuous updates on timber markets
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ITTO Annual Market Discussions:The 2022 edition explored the potential ofcarbon markets for tropical forests.
Theme for 2023 “Tropical Timber Industry:
Challenges and Opportunities from Changing
Priorities”

Global Timber Index (www.itto.int/gti) –published monthly, facilitates the exchange ofinformation/ data on timber trade - promotes
collaboration for building legal and sustainable
forest product supply chains:

Seven pilot countries: Brazil, the Congo,Indonesia, Gabon, Malaysia, Mexico and China,and 160 enterprises are participating in the initialphase.
Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum 2023,
21–22 November 2023, Macao SAR, China(www.itto.int/events).

Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World(SW4SW)—a CPF Joint Initiative that promotes nature-based
solutions – ITTO= one of LEAD Agencies

www.fao.org/forestry/sustainable-wood/en

Promoting Sustainable Wood Use
ITTO promotes sustainable wood use ALL
member economies.
Ongoing: domestic consumption studies financially supported by Japan in South East
Asia: Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia andMalaysia

Scope: improve domestic strategy/policy, production
capacity, M/SMEs skill capacity, wood products,
educate consumers on advantages of using wood
products vs substitute products

Outcomes: support SW4SW initiative;
strengthen sustainable wood value and supply
chains their social, economic and environmental
benefits from production to consumption

Promotion of sustainable domestic consumptionof wood products in Thailand
Advanced skills to design and develop
wood products to meet domestic market demands

Promotion of Sustainable Domestic Wood Consumption inViet Nam• Project duration: November 2021, for 2 years
ITTO budget :US$ 339,500 (Gov’t of Japan)• Implementing agency: VIFOREST
Objective: Enhanced and diversified domestic consumption andpromoted local markets of wood & wood products
Output 1: Improved policy framework to drive domestic
consumption of wood and wood products
Output 2: Strengthened capacity to produce wood and woodproducts to meet local market demands & promote local
consumption

DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DOMESTIC MARKET FOR
WOOD PRODUCTS IN INDONESIADURATION

18 months(2023-2024)

BUDGET

Objectives
Development objective:
To increase contribution of thewood industry to domestic
economy

ITTO: $261,811
 GOI: $23,880(inkind)Specific objective:
To promote strong and resilient
domestic consumption of wood
products

Outputs

Output 1:
Increased capacity of domestic
through strengthened growth of themarket to satisfy consumer’s need
Output 2:
Enhanced institutionalarrangements for steadily risingdomestic consumption of woodproducts

Promoting sustainable wood use for domestic
market in Malaysia• Malaysia’s project will focus on the promotion& the development of domestic consumption
for sustainable wood products, in anticipationof population and economic growth while
reducing carbon footprint.
• It emphasizes increased resilience ofconsumption, enhanced supply chains andimproved government policies.

SWU Contributions to Climate Change
Mitigation•••

Implementing SFM practices across wood supply
chains can lower emissions – improved timber
harvesting & processing = reduced emissions.
SFM= improved carbon sequestration
Harvested wood products = a significant carbon
sink/best environmentally–friendly substitutematerial•

Support ITTO member economies achieving theirdecarbonized society•

Using wood in construction - reduces the carbon
footprint of buildings/houses in comparison to othermaterials.
WOOD offers great potential to transform theconstruction industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, andin turn will help economies to fulfil their NDC
commitments.

•the future made from wood!

In conclusion …
The sustainable management of tropical forests, forestbased enterprises and international tropical timber trade
add value to tropical forests and contribute significantly
to inclusiveness and resilience while improving
economies and livelihoods.
Further investments in sustainable tropical forestry andforest enterprises are needed for promoting inclusive
and resilient solutions that produce positive outcomesfor people and the environment in a circular economy.
Multi-stakeholder involvement and gender parity are
critical—empower decision-making = social,environmental and economic benefits = achievement of
the 2030 Agenda.
Tropical Forests functions - Carbon sequester andstorage – USE of wood products provide Carbon storage
for the life of any product – mitigates climatechallenges!

DO WORK WITH US!

www.itto.int
satkuru@itto.int