Certification as a solution to tropical deforestation: keynote speaker announced
16 October 2014 News
The important role that independent certification plays in addressing deforestation and promoting both sustainable supply chains and brands will take center stage at the opening of PEFC’s Stakeholder Dialogue on 20 November in Paris, France.
Keynote speaker Kerstin Canby, Forest Trends’s Director of Forest Trade & Finance, will get the day started with the key findings of the recently published Consumer Goods and Deforestation report. The report highlights the growing share of global timber production which comes from illegally-cleared forestland and the important role that credible voluntary private sector commitments, often in the form of certification schemes or standard-setting bodies such as commodity roundtables, can play as solution providers in the fight against illegal tropical deforestation.
The report goes on to reveal the alarming extent to which illegal clearing for commercial agriculture is driving tropical deforestation around the world. In fact, commercial agriculture alone accounted for 71% of all tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2012, while illegal clearing for commercial agriculture accounted for almost half of all tropical deforestation in these years. International supply chains and market demand for key commodities such as beef, soya, palm oil and timber also have a part to play, and are responsible for nearly one quarter of tropical deforestation, particularly in South America and Southeast Asia.
As well as spelling out the sources of deforestation, the report makes a number of key recommendations for actors to address these deforestation challenges and curb illegalities in forest clearing – including for consumer countries and global companies to eliminate illegal timber and agricultural products from supply chains and markets and supplier countries to strengthen on-the-ground governance and resource management capacity.
Ms. Canby’s keynote address will mark the start of PEFC’s 5th Stakeholder Dialogue, bringing together up to 200 stakeholders to join forces to stimulate demand for sustainable forest products as a way of addressing deforestation.
Looking at the latest evidence base on consumer perceptions and buying behavior, as well as learning about innovations, initiatives and alliances to engage consumers on sustainability, participants will have the opportunity to design sustainable supply chain solutions that effectively leverage certification as input to PEFC’s growth and development strategy out to 2016.