BVRio announces 2020 Goals at ‘Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World’
Rio de Janeiro, 1 November 2017 – Yesterday, BVRio announced its 2020 targets at the “Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World” Global Meeting, held in the FAO headquarters, in Rome, Italy.
The ‘Sustainable Wood for a Sustainable World’ Global Meeting is set up to promote the benefits from sustainable wood value chains to sustainable development and highlighting the issues affecting their realization. It is intended to put forward the most important aspects of different segments of the value chain from the perspective of different stakeholders and regions.
BVRio’s 2020 Goals
1) 50 million m3 of legal timber transacted in the Responsible Timber Exchange
The Exchange connects legal sellers with responsible buyers via an online negotiations platform designed to promote the trading of forest products of legal and certified origin
2) At least 50% of legal timber is certified for sustainability
Currently, 15% of the legal timber transacted in BVRio’s platform is from certified origins. BVRio is constantly working with suppliers to commit to certification.
Making Targets Become Reality
Sustainable wood value chains: from production to consumption
Currently, many governments, companies, and NGOs are working to phase out illegal timber and introduce sustainability throughout the supply chains.
Suppliers, driven by the environmental movement, by market signals or by legislation, commit to certification or legality, to meet FSC, PEFC or FLEG standards. But there is a market failure, a disconnect between supply and demand of legal and certified wood products. This is leading to products or source substitution, in detriment of sustainable tropical timber. There is a need for market promotion, for connectivity, for linking buyers and sellers of sustainable and certified products.
To address this demand and market failure BVRio developed the Responsible Timber Exchange, an online negotiations platform designed to promote the trading of forest products of legal and certified origin. The objective is to link buyers and sellers of legal and certified timber products and enable them to demonstrate and/or verify the legality and traceability of individual timber supplies.
Supply chains are complex, involving many parties along the way. And, as they pass through different processing points, different hands, there is the risk of contamination with illegal timber. It is necessary to move away from supplier selection to individual supplies / consignments. BVRio makes this possible thanks to its Due Diligence and Risk Assessment System, an online system created to assist buyers and traders to conduct due diligence and assess the risk of illegality of specific consignments of timber products.
