Indonesia’s timber sector seems to be facing a Catch 22. Over many years, its international image has been seriously dented by the country’s record on illegal logging. To overcome this, Indonesian timber companies need to invest in certification and chain of custody tracking and, to do that, they need to be guaranteed an outlet for their sustainably sourced timber and a return on their spending. The catch is that the international market seems reluctant to give them such guarantees because of their country’s historically poor image. In fact, as Scott Poynton of the Tropical Forest Trust wrote in TTJ, even when an Indonesian supplier has achieved FSC certification, overseas buyers remain wary.
One way out of this conundrum proposed by the International Tropical Timber Organisation is for it to fund suppliers in tropical countries to set up pilot tracking systems. The logic is that if these work, other suppliers will follow suit. But, as Michael Buckley writes, progress on this front will also require support from the international timber sector; a willingness to accept that some Indonesian suppliers have made progress on green issues and assistance in conveying that to the wider market.
Another eco challenge has been thrown down to the industry by Wood for Gold chairman, architect Craig White. Speaking at the Forestry Commission conference, Forests and Climate Change, he said that growing pressure to make UK buildings and construction more sustainable represented a major opportunity for wood. That’s been said before, not least in TTJ and our sister title Timber Building. But, Mr White added, the sector could make even more of the opportunity if it built capacity in this country to produce the heavier weight engineered products that are increasingly exciting architects, such as large dimension LVL, glulam and cross-laminated panels. It could help develop the market and, by cutting freight miles, mean that these products press even more eco buttons.
