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Tropical Timber: a Guide to Responsible Sourcing and Financing

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Tropical Timber: a Guide to Responsible Sourcing and Financing TROPICAL TIMBER: A GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE SOURCING AND FINANCING 1 1 | WHY IS PRESERVING FORESTS SO IMPORTANT? 4 | WHAT ARE THE ESG RISKS POSED BY UNSUSTAINABLE | TIMBER AND PULP PRODUCTION? 8 | MINIMISING RISK: A ROLE FOR VOLUNTARY | SUSTAINABILITY AND LEGALITY CERTIFICATION? 12 | KEY QUESTIONS THAT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS | AND BUYERS SHOULD BE ASKING 14 | IDENTIFYING RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES 18 | CALL TO ACTION WHY IS PRESERVING FORESTS SO IMPORTANT? Tropical forests are estimated to house eighty percent of terrestrial biodiversity on earth,1 they regulate global rainfall, and provide a home, livelihoods and cultural functions to over 70 million Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples.2 They also store vast quantities of carbon, One of the most significant has been “locking in” a key greenhouse gas in the rapid expansion of agri-commodities vegetation and nutrient-rich forest soils. including oil palm in Southeast Asia5 and It is estimated that around 250 billion tonnes cattle ranching and soybean production in of carbon are stored in tropical forest above- South America.6 The degradation of tropical ground biomass alone, equating to roughly forests has received far less public attention 90 years of global fossil fuel emissions at than deforestation, despite also having today’s levels.3 However, growing recognition significant negative impacts on ecosystem of the importance of tropical forests comes function and biodiversity.7 The key driver at a time when forests are increasingly under of degradation is unsustainable logging threat from unsustainable production of practices, but degradation can also be forest-risk commodities including palm oil, caused by natural occurrences such as fire, beef, soy, timber and natural rubber. floods and storms. However, these natural occurrences will continue to become more It has been estimated that the loss of prevalent with increased global heating.8 tropical forest canopy between 2014–2018 was equivalent to an area the size of the Both deforestation and forest degradation are UK each year, and the CO2 emissions caused significant contributors to runaway climate by the deforestation of tropical forests in breakdown, as well as drivers of habitat 2019 was equivalent to the entire annual destruction and associated biodiversity loss. carbon emissions of the European Union.4 Additionally, both have a detrimental impact The drivers of deforestation in the tropics on the lives of Indigenous peoples and local are multidimensional and vary across communities whose cultural survival depends landscapes and geographies. on intact forests and ecosystems. 2 | TROPICAL TIMBER: A GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE SOURCING AND FINANCING HARVESTING TIMBER: NATURAL FOREST MANAGEMENT AND TIMBER PLANTATIONS Timber has been a vital resource geographic region and distribution in construction, decking, furniture for thousands of years and serves of high value species within the making and joinery. many functions. When produced at management area; for example in many industrial scale, timber is harvested areas of Africa or South America as little Timber plantations either through exploitation of areas as one or two commercially valuable of naturally occurring forest (natural trees are harvested per hectare; in Timber plantations are prevalent forest management) or through forest Asia, where commercially viable species in tropical and sub-tropical regions areas expressly planted for exploitation are more frequently distributed in the (notably Indonesia and Brazil) and (timber plantations). forest stand, this can be far higher.9 temperate regions such as South Africa In the economies of developing nations and New Zealand. This production Natural forest management with areas of significant tropical forest method typically prioritises monoculture cover, the timber industry represents growth of high value and fast-growing Forest land in tropical countries an important contributor to the national species. Harvests are often carried out is usually mandated as under the economy. For example, in Republic as soon as the crop is considered mature ownership of the state within the of Congo, logging activities represent enough and then replanted. Timber countries’ constitutions or Forest Codes. the country’s second largest sector plantations in tropical or sub-tropical When allocating forest land for timber (around 5% of national GDP) and provide climates usually feature non-native extraction, standard practice is to significant employment opportunities species and typically include eucalyptus lease or “concession” areas to timber in harvesting, production and logistics. (Eucalyptus spp.), pine (Pinus spp.), companies for commercial exploitation, Tropical hardwoods, including species beech (Fagus spp.) and spruce (Picea often with a time horizon of 20+ years. such as Brazilian mahogany (Swietenia spp.). These species are also used In concessions under management, macrophylla), sapele (Entandrophragma for construction and furniture making there are significant differences in cylindricum) and sipo (Entandrophragma as well as packaging, paper, pulp, intensity of harvest depending on utile) have multiple uses and are prized clothing and biomass. 3 WHAT ARE THE ESG RISKS POSED BY UNSUSTAINABLE TIMBER AND PULP PRODUCTION? FOREST DEGRADATION DEFORESTATION One of the most significant risks posed by Deforestation is defined as the clearance HOW CAN CLEARING unsustainable logging in natural forests is and permanent land use change of FOREST FOR TIMBER PLANTATIONS forest degradation. Degradation has been a forested area.16 There can be multiple defined in many ways, but principally drivers of forest conversion to other CONSTITUTE refers to a forest’s reduced ability to land uses, and these differ substantially DEFORESTATION? provide ecosystem services such as across geographies. Land can be cleared Most definitions of “forest”, including carbon storage and water cycle regulation, for smallholdings, agricultural plantations, that of the FAO, include both natural and to provide habitats for forest dwelling livestock grazing and settlements. Major forest and timber plantations (although species – without total forest clearance.10 drivers of large-scale deforestation include not agricultural plantations such as oil Natural occurrences (such as fire and the planting of oil palm plantations in palm). This can lead some to question floods) can cause degradation, as can Southeast Asia,17 beef and soy production if clearing natural forests and replacing human activity – logging, mining and in South America,18 and small-scale them with forest plantations constitutes fuelwood extraction are typical causes. agriculture in the Congo Basin.19 Forest deforestation. Forest plantations offer Typically, forest degradation has been clearance to facilitate the establishment only a limited range of ecosystem considerably more difficult to measure of commercial timber plantations is services and biodiversity in comparison than deforestation, as it is challenging also common in many tropical forest to natural forests. As such, actively to observe remotely through satellite landscapes, particularly in Southeast Asia. regenerating forest through native data. However, recent studies have This often arises when natural forest stands species planting or allowing a forest shown that forest degradation could have already been severely degraded (see to restore naturally is environmentally have affected a larger area of the Amazon Forest Degradation left). preferable to clearing for forest than has been cleared by deforestation.11 plantations, even in the cases of It has also been estimated to account Deforestation can have significant direct and severely degraded forest. So, buyers for around 84% of all forestry-related indirect negative environmental and social and financial institutions should always emissions in Africa, and a quarter of consequences. It results in carbon emissions, ask, what ecosystem did a forest forestry-related emissions worldwide.12 habitat destruction and associated biodiversity plantation replace? In addition, unsustainable logging has decline, as well as a heightened risk of flooding had a considerable impact on Indigenous and landslides. Social effects can include the peoples’ access to land and resources as violation of the rights of Indigenous peoples well as diminishing habitats of species and local communities, and a loss of access and regeneration of degraded forest such as the African lowland gorilla, whose to vital resources (e.g. fuel and firewood, areas is crucial to ensure the return of population rate has declined by 20% in hunting, non-timber forest products and ecological functions and the associated the last eight years.13 Severe degradation fresh water) and the cultural and religious ecosystem services that natural forests and unsustainable rates of harvesting in value of forest areas to certain Indigenous provide. Methodologies such as the High natural forest areas under management and local community groups. Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA)24 (a joint can reduce a forests’ financial viability: initiative between environmental and over-harvesting can lead to economic Governments and timber companies social NGOs and forest-risk commodity pressure to clear degraded forest in should prioritise the planting of timber producers) allow companies to distinguish order to prioritise the establishment plantations in areas where forest between degraded landscapes suitable of timber plantations or other agricultural regeneration is highly unlikely
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