Instead of reducing the consumption of wood the world should be growing more trees and using more timber, according to environmentalist Dr Patrick Moore.
Speaking at the International Timber Trade Organisation conference in Indonesia, he challenged allegations that commercial logging and forestry activities were responsible for species extinction and that the tropical pulp and paper industry was responsible for forest loss.
Such allegations, he said, damaged the industry and he suggested a more constructive approach would be to campaign for increased wood consumption and more timber plantations.
Indonesian Wood Panels Association representative Totok Lestiyo called for producers and buyers to help concession-holders cope with the demands of forest certification.
Meanwhile, the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) decided to further efforts towards sustainable forest management in West Africa’s forests and adopted guidelines to promote the restoration of degraded tropical forests, management of secondary tropical forests and the rehabilitation of degraded tropical forest lands.
It also pledged more than US$8.1m to promote sustainable forest management, greater transparency in tropical timber trade and the development of sustainable tropical forest-based industries.
The ITTC will also undertake a study looking at a phased approach to certification which would allow applicants to make claims on their progress towards sustainability before full certification status.
