Summary
• The second annual RPP report for 2009 has just been published.
• The level of certification among members rose to 86%.
• From 2007-2009 the level of unspecified risk fell from nearly 40% to 4%.
• The TTF is revising RPP in line with emerging guidance for the EU Timber Regulation.

For the international community not to act to stop illegal felling of timber and widespread deforestation would be, well, just plain irresponsible.

This is why most of the companies importing timber in the UK have signed up to the Responsible Purchasing Policy (RPP), administered by The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) in the UK, or a similar environmental due diligence scheme.

All TTF members are required to have an environmental due diligence programme as a condition of membership. With the great majority of UK timber importers within TTF membership, the UK can rightly claim to have exercised its moral – and soon to be legal – obligations to eradicate the destructive effects of illegal logging.

Illegal logging is largely confined to a limited range of “high risk” countries, generally characterised by high levels of corruption and dysfunctional systems of forest regulation.

The RPP sets out to minimise risk when purchasing timber from such countries and it is hoped that, over time, it will contribute to the elimination of illegal logging.

Central to the cause of eliminating risk and providing proof of sustainable forestry practices is timber certification.

Members purchasing timber that has been certified under FSC or PEFC schemes are able to demonstrate responsible purchasing through the RPP – but importantly, the RPP also allows for members to report on the progress they are making in the reduction of the risk that uncertified products have been sourced from countries where illegal logging may be present.

Stepwise approach

Critically, the RPP provides a stepwise approach to progressively facilitate the sourcing of increasing proportions of timber products from legal and sustainable sources. By so doing, TTF members are exercising due diligence in their purchasing processes.

The second annual RPP report for the year 2009 has just been published and reveals how the RPP is progressing and how the TTF membership is exercising its due diligence obligations.

The key finding of this report is the continuing positive development in the reduction of the risk associated with the purchasing of illegal timber.

As the RPP has embraced more signatories over the last three years, the level of certified timber products bought has risen rapidly, from just over 40% in 2007, to 81% in 2008 and to 86% in 2009. At the same time, the volume of imports carrying an element of risk (that the goods imported were potentially sourced from illegal logging activity) has fallen from over 51% in 2007 to around 7% in 2009.

There are different forms of risk within the category of “other supply” shown in figure 1 – low risk (based on the TTF risk-assessed country guidance notes where the likelihood of illegally-felled timber is small) and unspecified risk where the risk of importing illegally-felled timber is likely to be higher. Both types of risk continue to fall significantly, as shown in figure 2.

Between 2007 and 2009 the proportion of low risk imports fell from 12% in 2007 to 3%. During the same period in 2009, the level of unspecified risk fell from nearly 40% to just 4%.

Timber imports are sourced from a substantial number of countries in the world and the development of sustainable forestry is progressing at different rates in different countries. Consequently, the extent of forest certification differs, and sometimes significantly. Some hardwoods and some panel products are imported from countries where certification processes are less advanced and therefore these products carry a greater degree of risk and lower levels of certification.

The trend of risk reduction is consistent across all main timber product categories, however.

Hardwood imports

The wide variety of hardwood products imported to the UK from African and Asian countries in particular have traditionally been those that carry the greatest risk and lowest level of certification. Significant improvements have been made by importers to lower these risks and in 2009, the level of certified hardwood products within the RPP increased to 35% in 2009, from 14% in 2008.

This does not mean that 65% of hardwood purchases are from illegal logging activities; merely that steps to certification have taken longer in some of these countries.

Virtually all softwood imported to the UK under the RPP is certified. The RPP report shows that 98% of imports were certified in 2009.

Panel products imports too have exhibited growth in the extent of certification, rising from 68% in 2008 to 82% in 2009.

The RPP report also highlights how improvements in certification and reduction in the risk of importing illegally felled timber have fared in 2010.

Based on the targets set by RPP signatories, the level of certification will have improved still further in 2010. For all timber and panel products, the proportion of certified imports will have increased to 91% from the 86% level in 2009.

This will be accompanied by a decline in the levels of risk of purchasing illegal imports. In 2010, it is estimated that only 7% of timber and panel imports will carry any form of risk – this is a reduction from the 52% level in 2008. It is highly probable that within this 7% only a tiny fraction of volume was actually illegally felled. The forecasts for 2010 are shown in figure 3.

This reduction in the percentage of imports that carry any form of risk is testament to the effectiveness of the RPP.

Long-term goal

These improvements are set to continue into the current decade, with the prospect that the already very small risk associated with imported timber will be even smaller in years to come. And it is hoped that, one day, such trade will be totally eliminated.

The TTF’s RPP has provided the assurance that buyers of timber and wood-based products from its members can be confident that the products purchased and consumed in the UK originate from sustainable and well-managed sources.