FOREST PRODUCTS

ASSOCIATION NEEDS

ASSESSMENT

World Resources InstituteJuly 2015

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

WRI’s Forest Legality Alliance (FLA) and the Global Timber Forum

(GTF) aim to promote a healthy global forest products market that is

strengthened by trade in sustainable and legal wood. To realize this

objective, they work with forest products companies and associations to

strengthen capacity and support the implementation of legal and

sustainable forest production and trade. In order to increase their

impact and leverage industry partnerships, the GTF enlisted the help of

WRI to conduct a needs assessment of associations from around the

world.

METHODOLOGY

WRI created a survey combining open-ended, ranking and multiple

choice questions (see Appendix I). At the 2015 meeting of the Global

Timber Forum, held from June 9-11 in Shanghai, China (http://gtf-

info.com), WRI staff interviewed a number of association

representatives. Although no global comprehensive database of forest

products associations exists yet, the GTF has been building a robust

contact list of associations over the last two years. In total, 22

associations were interviewed from around the world, representing a

broad variety of wood products, species, types of members, size of

membership and mission. Because of the small sample size, results

are not meant to be statistically significant. Rather, they provide an

indication of current priorities and values of a broad group of industry

associations and form the basis of further study. Survey results are

represented here.

RESULTS

Camara

Nacional de la

Industria

Maderera

ProChile

QWEB

IWPA

AIMEX

CBF

UNIFOR

Gremial

Forestal

GPEIASMINDO

Philippine

Exporters

ATIF

CNFPIA

CTWPDA

TTFETTF

Zambia Natl

Assn

Sawmillers

Kumasi Wood

Cluster

IFFB

Vietnam

Timber &

Forest

Products

Lao Natl

Wood Prod.

Assn

Myanma

Forest’s

Products

Merchants Fed.

I. ASSOCIATION SNAPSHOT

• The leaders of 22 associations from around the world (see map)

were interviewed.

• The interviewed associations are quite variable in size. They range

from umbrella organizations with member associations comprising a

large percentage of the wood trade of a country to relatively small

organizations representing many fewer companies and a much lower

trade volume. Many of the associations do not keep statistics on

volume of wood that their members trade.

MEMBER TYPE

Most of the surveyed

associations include a

mix of company types,

including forest

producers, exporters,

importers,

manufacturers and

retailers within their

membership. Some

associations also

include distributors and

agents in their

membership.

With a few exceptions,

most of the surveyed

associations have

members that trade in a

variety of products. The

most commonly traded

products are logs,

sawnwood and flooring;

the least commonly

traded product is

biomass.

PRODUCT TYPE

Most of the surveyed

associations’ members

trade in a variety of

forest species, with

tropical hardwood and

plantation wood being

the most commonly

traded species.

WOOD TYPE

About half of the

surveyed associations

have members that

primarily source wood

domestically. For

those with a high

percentage of

importers, much of

the wood is coming

from Southeast Asia,

Latin America and

North America, with

species composition

varying by product

category.

PRODUCT SOURCE

For exporters, the

United States, China

and the European

Union generally

represent the largest

markets among the

surveyed associations.

Most of the surveyed

associations exist to

provide members with

services unrelated to

legality or sustainability.

Some of these services

include quality control

assistance, trade

promotion and

facilitation and lobbying.

EXPORT MARKET

II. LEVEL OF AWARENESS, MARKET DEMAND, AND

ASSOCIATION RESPONSE

The associations were asked a series of questions to gauge the level of

awareness of legality requirements and sustainability forest product

certification, market demand for legal or sustainable products, and

where the association needs the most assistance.

HOW OFTEN ARE YOUR MEMBERS ASKED BY CUSTOMERS

ABOUT PRODUCT LEGALITY?

Most interviewees are asked

sometimes, particularly from

customers based in the

European Union, United States

or Australia, but rarely by

customers in other geographic

areas such as India, Africa or

China.

Of the respondents who rated

this question low, some noted

that their members are certified

and customers are now satisfied

that they have a relatively low

risk of illegal wood in their

supply. Others noted that only

certain industries, such as

construction or consumer

brands, are asking, but there is

little pressure from business to

business suppliers.

HOW OFTEN ARE YOUR MEMBERS ASKED BY CUSTOMERS

ABOUT PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY OR CERTIFICATION?

Responses were more

mixed than those of

the legality question,

with high demand in

certain western

markets, and for

particular products like

furniture and

construction materials.

LEGALITY AWARENESS

Associations were asked

about their members’

awareness of legality

requirements and

sustainable forest

product certification.

They were also asked if

members were required

to sign a code of

conduct.

Most of the associations’

members are aware of

legality requirements and

certification standards.

Most of the associations

also have membership

codes of conducts.

WHICH NGOS AND/OR INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE

YOU WORKING WITH ON FOREST LEGALITY OR SUSTAINABILITY?

Most associations

are working with at

least one global NGO

or IGO. WWF and

the FAO were the

most commonly cited

partners. Many

associations were

also partnering with

local NGOs.

III. WHERE DOES THE ASSOCIATION NEED SUPPORT?

The associations were asked a series of questions to determine their level of

support need (on a scale of 1-5) concerning different aspects of sustainability

and legality.

With a few exceptions, most of the associations would like more funding to

support their legality and sustainability activities. After that, the area with the

highest need is in communicating and making a solid business case for market

demand for legal and sustainable wood products to members. Other areas that

rated high on the needs scale included support in training members and in

helping establish due diligence systems and supplier assurance.

Importers and processors stated that they need more help understanding

producer country forest law. Exporters and processors, on the other hand, need

help understanding export forest trade law and helping members adopt SFM

standards.

III. WHERE DOES THE ASSOCIATION NEED SUPPORT?

III. WHERE DOES THE ASSOCIATION NEED SUPPORT?

III. WHERE DOES THE ASSOCIATION NEED SUPPORT?

III. WHERE DOES THE ASSOCIATION NEED SUPPORT?

III. WHERE DOES THE ASSOCIATION NEED SUPPORT?

III. WHERE DOES THE ASSOCIATION NEED SUPPORT?

Associations were asked, “If you could only get help in one category, other than

funding, which category would it be?”

The majority of the organizations indicated that they would like support in due

diligence/supplier assurance systems, followed by training members and understanding

producer country forest laws. Several associations described needs unique to their

situation as indicated above.

Other Top Priority Needs:

• Make FLEGT and FSC less

onerous, less expensive and more

practical for producer countries.

• Provide market access and links

for certified products and building

consumer demand for legal

wood.

• Internet and communication

networks for outreach.

• Improve product quality to assure

market access.

• Association organizational

support

TOP PRIORITY

OTHER COMMENTS

• Need more focused support for small enterprises

• Need more focused support for processing countries

• Need better data and market analyses to make the economic business case for legal & sustainable wood to members, as well as to show the environmental/social benefits of tropical wood vs. non-wood competing products (LCAs)

• Need more reliable data from governments on producer country forest laws

• Need people with expertise, like foresters, to do the training and provide guidance to our members for verifying paperwork from suppliers, especially for new markets

• Would be helpful for EUTR to set up a free platform in China to help implement due diligence systems

• Tours of processors/buyers to producer countries on legal compliance best practices holds a lot of promise

IV. FUTURE OUTLOOK

Associations were asked “Do you see a future role for your

association to address global forest legality and sustainability?”

The response was a unanimous “yes” with some caveats:

– Product quality a priority issue

– Product sustainability and the LCA approach of wood vs. other

competing products

– Items such as tariffs reduction, quarantine issues, competitive

trade, supporting importers now need more focus

– Need to focus on government forest and land reform and concerns

with competing land interests such as palm oil

"THAT IS OUR JOB…WE ARE EXPORT

ORIENTED, SO LEGALITY IS A

QUESTION OF TO BE OR NOT TO BE.

MANY OF OUR ENTERPRISES WOULD

DIE IF WE DON'T ADDRESS

LEGALITY."

Vietnam Timber & Forest Product Association

“COUNTRIES ARE CARING MORE

AND MORE ABOUT LEGALITY AND

SUSTAINABILITY… WE'RE NOT ONLY

DOING IT FOR EXPORT, BUT I AM

DOING IT FOR MY CHILDREN'S

CHILDREN… WE NEED TO SEE

OURSELVES AS GUARDIANS."Philippines Exporters Foundation

WHAT ASSOCIATIONS WANT FROM GTF

Associations were asked “What supporting role would you like GTF and other organizations to play?”

Several associations indicated they would like GTF to play a role in global policy, advocacy and providing a link with governmental processes. Many associations also said they would like GTF to serve as a networking platform.

Other responses include:

• Provide market pricing, trend and technical information

• Create market links and promote the legal industry to consumers

• Provide general support in helping companies in processing countries to conduct due diligence and better manage the chain of custody

• Help strengthen smaller local and regional associations

• Work with FSC and EU FLEGT to make requirements more cost-effective and less onerous in terms of paperwork

• Bring more individual companies into the network

WHAT ASSOCIATIONS WANT FROM GTF

V. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

• Associations play an important role in raising industry awareness and building capacity for due care

and more sustainable forest products.

• The 22 associations we interviewed are very diverse and their main reason for existing is not for

reasons of sustainability/legality. However, members of these associations are generally aware of

the importance of sustainability and legality, and the associations support their members in

addressing these issues in their business practices.

• They also have diverse support needs. Some associations need a lot of help across the board,

even on basic things like internet access and organizational design. Others are quite advanced and

need support on issues such as building consumer demand for legal/sustainable products.

• Most of the associations want access to funding and many want help with making the business

case for greater focus on addressing legality requirements, supporting due diligence

systems/supplier assurance, and training.

• Exporters and processors want help understanding forest trade laws and streamlining legality and

sustainability standards to make the process more cost-effective and less burdensome. Importers

and processors want help understanding producer country forest laws and authenticating

documentation. Exporters also want better market recognition and trade links for their legal and

sustainable wood.

• One recommendation for GTF is to consider a broader study of associations around the world to

better understand where the larger body of associations are, how they function and what they

need.