Stimulating consumer demand to address deforestation: PEFC Stakeholder Dialogue agenda shapes up

4 September 2014 News

It is widely recognised that engaging consumers in sustainability offers significant potential in tackling deforestation.

PEFC’s forthcoming Stakeholder Dialogue (20 November 2014, Paris, France) will enable key actors and stakeholders along the forest products value chain to discuss and identify new collaborative approaches and actions to stimulate demand for sustainable forest products and to strengthen the profile of the forest sector.

Addressing Deforestation: joining forces to stimulate demand for sustainable forest products
Paris, France, 20 November 2014   

The Dialogue “Addressing Deforestation: joining forces to stimulate demand for sustainable forest products” will bring together up to 300 diverse stakeholders and key actors across the national and international forest sector landscape and along the forest products supply chain – including forest managers, manufacturers and marketers; civil society groups; governments and international organizations - focused on addressing deforestation challenges with sustainable forest management solutions, especially solutions supported by certification.

The meeting seeks to strengthen our collective understanding on consumers’ perception, engagement & commitment to sustainable forest products. With a forward looking focus, the event will encourage exchange amongst diverse stakeholder representatives to identify new collaborative approaches and actions to stimulate demand for sustainable forest products and to strengthen the profile of the forest sector utilizing forest certification.

The updated agenda, which was released today, promises an open and constructive dialogue with the aim of ratcheting-up demand side pressure for sustainable forest products to strengthen the business case for all stakeholders to deliver viable sustainability solutions.

Confirmed and invited speakers include:

• Laura Babbs, Sustainability Manager, Asda UK
• Elizabeth Pastore-Reiss, President EthiCity Greenflex
• Kerstin Canby, Forest Trends
• Donna Harman, President, American Forest & Paper Association
• Julia Young, Manager, Global Forest and Trade Network, WWF-UK
• Claire Tutenuit, Entreprises pour l'Environnement EpE (invited)
• Sabine Ritter, Executive VP Sustainability, The Consumer Goods Forum (invited)
• Gary Dunning, The Forests Dialogue (invited)

The PEFC Stakeholder Dialogue is part of the PEFC Forest Certification Week, the one week a year where all PEFC members gather together to discuss the continued development of our organization. Following the success of the first ever PEFC Forest Certification Week held last year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this year we are taking PEFC Week to Paris, France.

The event is the latest in a series of successful, sold out PEFC Stakeholder Dialogues on opportunities and challenges facing the forest sector and sustainable forest management today, with dialogues in previous years focusing on issues such as “Linking sustainable forest products supply chains in Asia” and “Strengthening the link: Sustainable biomass and forest certification”.