Turbulent Times For India’s Timber Trade

A 2021 Update of "India's Wooden Furniture and Wooden Handicrafts: Risk of Trade in Illegally Harvested Wood"

This report focuses on recent changes in India’s international timber trade, especially over the 2019–2021 period, and the implications (of identified changes) for India’s sourcing of illegally harvested or traded timber. The paper thus provides an update of Forest Trends’ 2020 report India’s wooden furniture and wooden handicrafts: risk of trade in Illegally harvested wood […]

Illicit Harvest, Complicit Goods

The State of Illegal Deforestation for Agriculture

While subsistence agriculture and logging still contribute to deforestation, commercial-scale agricultural expansion is now recognized as by far the single largest driver of deforestation worldwide and thus also of greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change. Several initiatives have quantified how much and where deforestation is driven by commercial agriculture, and even how much of this […]

Illicit Harvest, Complicit Goods: Executive Summary

The State of Illegal Deforestation for Agriculture

Illicit Harvest, Complicit Goods: Case Studies Annex

The State of Illegal Deforestation for Agriculture

India’s Wooden Furniture and Wooden Handicrafts: Risk of Trade in Illegally Harvested Wood

This report document’s India’s role in the global timber supply chain, with a particular focus on the extent to which India’s furniture and handicrafts industries’ high demand for wood products from around the world may be driving India’s imports of illegally harvested wood. India’s rapidly expanding furniture manufacturing industries are setting their sights on close […]

China’s Log Imports from Countries with Log Export Bans

Trade Trends and Due Diligence Risks

China has imported more than 46 million cubic meters of logs from countries with log export bans from 2005 to 2016. Many of these imports are in violation of log export bans (LEBs) and present a risk to Chinese companies – and their down-stream buyers of processed wood products in North America and Europe – that these logs are illegally sourced. […]

Impacts of the Laos Log and Sawnwood Export Bans

Decisive actions taken by the government of Laos, in the form of a Notice (no. 1360 in August 2015) and a Prime Ministerial Order (PM15 in May 2016) prohibiting the export of logs and lightly processed “sawnwood,” appear to be paying off, according to a new analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based organization Forest Trends. The […]

Laos Log and Sawnwood Export Ban

Impacts on the Vietnam-Laos Timber Trade

In May 2016, the Government of Lao PDR enacted a Prime Ministerial Order (PM15) to ban the export of logs and sawnwood, with the express aim to help control the country’s high deforestation rates and boost Laos’ domestic wood production industry. As a result of PM15, the Vietnamese timber industry has seen an almost immediate the decline in their ability to import logs and sawnwood from Laos. This report identifies in detaild impact of the Lao government’s log and sawnwood export ban on Vietnam’s timber industry by analyzing 2010-2016 Vietnam’s Custom Statistics for the imports of logs and sawn wood into Vietnam from Laos.

National Governance Indicators

Relevance for the Regulation of the Trade in Illegal Timber

This paper builds on the use of national governance indicators to develop a new relative governance ranking. The relative governance ranking seeks to provide an entry point for buyers of timber products, particularly those in regulated markets such as the EU and USA, who wish to undertake a risk assessment process for forest products sourced […]

Vietnam Customs Data

REDD+ & POST-CONFLICT

A briefing for the Oslo REDD-Exchange

Since the first commitments for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) were announced in Bali in 2007, more than half of all participating countries have experienced violent conflict involving organized, armed groups (see Figure on reverse). Through programs like the United Nations–REDD Programme, the World Bank-hosted Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and Forest Investment Program, […]

Brexit, FLEGT et le commerce du bois (FR)

Le 23 juin 2016, la population du Royaume-Uni s’est exprimée par référendum en faveur d’une sortie de l’Union européenne. Ce référendum étant consultatif, il appartient maintenant au Parlement du Royaume-Uni de se prononcer sur l’activation, les dates et les modalités du processus au terme duquel le pays pourra quitter l’UE, ainsi que le prévoit l’article […]

Brexit, FLEGT, and the Timber Trade (CHIN)

Last week the population of the UK voted in a referendum to leave the EU. The legal status of the referendum was advisory, and thus the UK Parliament must now vote on whether and how to trigger the 2-year process by which the UK can leave the EU. This process is described in Article 50 […]

Brexit, FLEGT, and the Timber Trade

Last week the population of the UK voted in a referendum to leave the EU. The legal status of the referendum was advisory, and thus the UK Parliament must now vote on whether and how to trigger the 2-year process by which the UK can leave the EU. This process is described in Article 50 […]

REDD+ & Post-Conflict

A briefing for the Oslo REDD-Exchange

Since the first commitments for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) were announced in Bali in 2007, more than half of all participating countries have experienced violent conflict involving organized, armed groups. If properly designed, REDD+ programs can strengthen peace and security as much as they can mitigate climate change, improve environmental management, […]

Myanmar Overview

presentation for April 2016 TREE workshop

China’s Logging Ban in Natural Forests

Impacts of Extended Policy at Home and Abroad

This Information Brief explores some of the anticipated economic and ecological implications of the forthcoming expansion of restrictions on commercial logging in China’s natural forests.

China’s Domestic Timber Supply

Vietnam and General Mekong-China Trade

Welcome and Overarching Questions

European Trade Flows and Risk

Illegal logging, as defined in the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), is the harvesting of timber in contravention of the laws and regulations of the country of harvest. Illegal logging is a global epidemic with significant negative economic, environmental and social impacts. Recent studies indicate that illegal logging accounts for 50–90 percent of the volume of […]

Forest Certification in Myanmar (Burmese)

Forest Trends Information Brief No. 3

Forest Certification in Myanmar

Forest Trends Information Brief No. 3

The easing of diplomatic and financial sanctions on Myanmar has sparked western interest in investment and trade opportunities. Interest in the export of world famous Burmese teak has led buyers from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia to ask questions about whether logs or timber exported out of Myanmar are legal or sustainable, as […]

Thailand

Overview of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade

Thailand diverges from neighboring regional Mekong countries, with a decade or more experience of actively pursuing policies to combat domestic illegal logging and internal transportation. The 1989 logging ban, and the rise of grassroots social movements organizing around large-scale plantations and community displacement, has meant that Thai forestry institutions have needed to become more responsive […]

Myanmar

Overview of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade

Myanmar remains one of the world’s only countries with no prohibitions on log exports. The country provides much coveted teak and other hardwood logs to the region and beyond. Sawn wood, and to a lesser extent finished wood products, contribute a relatively small amount to Myanmar’s total exports of wood products. As in the majority […]

Forest Governance in Asia

10 Years after the Bali Declaration

This article takes stock of what happened since the Bali Declaration was signed ten years ago, in September 2001. The Bali Declaration concluded the East Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) Ministerial Conference. Although a non-legally binding document, the Bali Declaration committed the countries represented there – both timber producing and consuming nations – […]

Lao PDR

Overview of Forest Governance, Markets and Trade

Over the past decade in Lao PDR, new regulations and policies related to logging and timber exports have aimed to conserve existing natural forests and promote a shift towards participatory, sustainable forest management. Still, the main challenge will be to implement these reforms effectively. In addition, over the past five to six years, considerable foreign […]

Lao PDR

Overview of Forest Governance, Markets and Trade (Lao)

China

Overview of Forest Governance, Markets and Trade (Chinese)

China

Overview of Forest Governance, Markets and Trade

In 2009, the Chinese wood products industry posted historic highs in terms of imports, production, and market activity. Trade data shows that 2009 imports of forest products were the highest on record, and domestic harvesting reached its highest peak in history in 2008. Domestic markets are booming, and while exports are down by volume, by […]

Kerstin Canby

ISSUE 8: ROLE MODELS IN CHINA’S FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY: COMPANIES DEVELOPING CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY SYSTEMS TO PROTECT AGAINST ILLEGAL OR UNSUSTAINABLE WOOD SOURCING

English version

The Chinese wood products industry has come under increasing international attention for its potential role in importing (and re-exporting) wood materials which cannot be verified as having come from sustainably managed or even legally harvested forests around the world. This situation does not mean that all production originating from Chinese mills is illegal, but it […]

China’s Forest Product Exports

An Overview of Trends by Segment and Destinations

China is now well recognized as a major timber importer. According to FAO, China has led the world in imports of industrial roundwood since 2001. An analysis of Chinese customs data indicates that China imported a total of 120 million cubic meters (RWE) of forest products in 2004. The dramatic impact this surge in imports […]

Forest Products Trade Between China & Africa: An Analysis of Imports & Exports

Recent reports of China’s efforts to secure access to natural resources in Africa suggest that timber has already become an important traded commodity between China and the African continent. Many hold a general impression that Africa exports a significant and growing amount of timber to China. However, the true magnitude of the China-Africa forest product […]

China and the Global Market for Forest Products

China and the Global Market for Forest Products: Transforming Trade to Benefit Forests and Livelihoods

Forest Trends’ relevant work program

Russia-China Forest Products Trade: Promoting Sustainable Trade

More What If: Implications of Increasing Global Demand for Bejing Roast Duck

China Trade Trends

Overview of Trade Trends

Overview of Trade Trends (Chinese)

Forest Logging and Timber Processing in Russia: How to Benefit Environment and Livelihoods of Local Communities

Forest Products Trade Between China & Africa

An Analysis of Imports & Exports

Recent reports of China’s efforts to secure access to natural resources in Africa suggest that timber has already become an important traded commodity between China and the African continent. Many hold a general impression that Africa exports a significant and growing amount of timber to China. However, the true magnitude of the China-Africa forest product […]

Forest Logging and Timber Processing in Russia

How to Benefit Environment and Livelihoods of Local Communities

China Trade Trends

Overview of Trade Trends

Overview of Trade Trends

Chinese

Developing Future Ecosystem Service Payments In China

Lessons Learned from International Experience

Across the world, the growing scarcity of ecosystem services has led to a flurry of conservation innovations over the past decade in the form of payment schemes and nascent markets for these services. The global economic value of ecosystem services is estimated in the trillions of dollars, though actual payments for protecting these services are […]

China and the Global Market for Forest Products

Transforming Trade to Benefit Forests and Livelihoods

China’s spectacular economic growth over the last decade is having a dramatic impact throughout the world. It has become a leading nation in terms of its demand for forest products, and its influence is being felt as far afield as Cameroon and Cambodia, Indonesia and the United States. China is now in the world’s spotlight, […]

Opportunities and Constraints to Investment

Natural Tropical Forest Industries

The global forest products industry represents close to 3% of the world’s gross economic output, and the forests upon which it depends are particularly important ecosystems for the health of the planet and for human well-being. The size of the industry, its links to the rest-of-the-world economy, and the centrality of its resource base to […]

China’s Forest Product Exports

An Overview of Trends by Segment and Destinations

In only 7 years, China’s timber product exports have tripled in volume and increased fourfold in value. The total volume of all forest product exports – including both timber and pulp and paper products – is now one-third of China’s total forest product import volume. The total volume of only primary timber products (excluding pulp […]