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Forests
Global Forest & Trade Network - North America
WWF Engages with Companies to Support Forest Conservation
The Global Forest & Trade Network-North America held its second annual meeting for companies to learn how they can promote responsible forest management and trade while improving their business practices.
Do you know where your wood and paper comes from? Has it been harvested responsibly from a well-managed forest? As illegal and unsustainable logging continues to increase at an alarming rate, more and more companies are starting to ask these important questions. Nearly half of the earth’s original forests have been lost; 10 percent of all forests have disappeared in only the last 25 years. Net forest loss remains over 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) per year, equivalent to an area the size of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts combined. Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and Brazil experienced the highest rate of forest loss from 2000 to 2005. In addition, in some countries in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America it is reported that up to 80 percent of all trees are cut illegally.
So what does this mean for North American wood and paper companies? The US is the largest consumer of industrial timber, pulp and paper in the world. The US is also among the top destinations for imports of wood from areas where illegal logging and poor forest management are common, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and China (as a port of transit trade). Thus, the US market is critical to protecting forests worldwide.
Combating illegal and unsustainable logging with responsible forest management
The symbol of the FSC is spay-painted onto stacks of processed timber.
© WWF-Canon / Edward PARKER
The Global Forest & Trade Network - North America (GFTN-NA) is affiliated with the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), a WWF initiative to combat illegal and unsustainable logging by promoting responsible forest management of valuable and threatened forests in the Amazon, Amur-Heilong, Borneo, Sumatra, the Congo Basin, Mekong and other areas where forests are threatened. GFTN assists companies in evaluating their procurement and implementing appropriate action plans to ensure sustainable supply. The GFTN-NA is one of more than 30 regional Forest & Trade Networks worldwide spanning the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific under the Global Forest & Trade Network. By facilitating trade links between companies committed to responsible forestry, the GFTN creates market conditions that help conserve forests while providing economic and social benefits for the businesses and people that depend on them. More than 370 companies are members of the Global Forest & Trade Network, including manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, forest owners and managers.
The GFTN-NA assists major United States and Canadian purchasers of wood and paper products in evaluating where their wood and paper comes from, and works with them to immediately end the purchase of illegally harvested forest products, and to increasingly source their wood and paper from responsibly managed and credibly certified forests. WWF works with companies to adopt a “stepwise approach” to responsible purchasing that requires progression (from using unknown sources) through the following categories: known, licensed, controlled wood, in progress towards certification, and credibly certified. The GFTN-NA also connects companies to other Forest & Trade Networks (FTNs) around the world that can provide technical assistance and expertise needed for a company’s suppliers to pursue credible certification.
Membership Benefits
Access to Information
- Current information on better forest management practices and credible certification schemes
- Information on lesser-known and non-traditional species
- Information on suppliers pursuing credible certification through the Forest & Trade Networks
Guidance and Access to Best Practice Tools
- GFTN-NA participation tools and updates
- GFTN Responsible Purchasing Guide
- Keep it Legal manual
- GFTN Forest Products Tracking Database
- supplier questionnaire, purchasing policy, and reporting templates
- Quarterly GFTN electronic newsletters
- Assistance in the development and implementation of a responsible purchasing policy
- Guidance and advice on communicating a company’s commitment to responsible purchasing to their suppliers, customers and other stakeholders
- Assistance in reviewing a company’s forest products supply chain through a Baseline Assessment, and in classifying the environmental status of their products
- Support in developing an action plan that details targets for moving a company’s supply chain along the stepwise approach to credible certification
- Guidance on how to source credibly certified wood
- Feedback on a company’s forest products usage reports
- Training courses for managing a responsible purchasing program
Linkages to GFTN, Producer FTNs, and the WWF Network
- Market links to other Forest & Trade Network participants worldwide
- Information on other WWF FTNs in producer countries that can actively work with a company’s suppliers to achieve progress to credible certification
- Association with the WWF global network
- Opportunities to interact with companies on lessons learned and best practices.
Publications available to download
- GFTN-NA Brochure
- GFTN-NA Factsheet
- GFTN-NA Responsible Purchasing Guide
- Building a Better Business Through Responsible Purchasing: A Brief for U.S. Companies Purchasing Forest Products from the Amazon
- Building a Better Business Through Responsible Purchasing: A Brief for U.S. Companies Purchasing Forest Products from China and the Russian Far East
- Building a Better Business Through Responsible Purchasing: A Brief for U.S. Companies Purchasing Forest Products from the Mekong Region
- Building a Better Business through Responsible Purchasing: A Brief for U.S. Companies Purchasing Wood Products from Indonesia
- Building a Better Business through Responsible Purchasing: A Brief for U.S. Companies Purchasing Wood Products from Latin America
For more information on how to participate in the Global Forest & Trade Network - North America, e-mail us at: naftn@wwfus.org
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