Goho(=Legal) Wood NAVI

On Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th of February 2007, the "International Seminar in Tokyo for Tackling Illegal Logging 2007 - Response of the World to the Procurement Policies of Japan" (organized by the Japan Federation of Wood Industry Associations (JFWIA), with support from Japanese government's Forestry Agency) was held at Tokyo Big Sight (Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo). The two-day seminar featured seven guest speakers from major wood/wood product exporting nations of the world to learn about and discuss each nation's countermeasures against illegal logging. In the afternoon on the 27th of February, a panel discussion was held between the guest speakers and representatives of three large-scale private-sector users (a major residential house manufacturer, a furniture maker, and an officeware and office supply distributor). The following is a short summary of the panel discussion.

From the panellists:

[From the user point of view]
1. Mr. Abematsu, Group Manager, Environmental Management Department, Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd.
Sumitomo Forestry has assigned a high priority to safety and the environment. The first step is the company's policy to use wood that is legally verified. However, such verification requires a great deal of work and time. The company is in the process of developing its wood procurement policies. The amount of the wood sourced from within Japan is currently about 50%, and the company intends to continue using domestic supplies of wood.
2. Mr. Tsuji, International Procurement Department, KOKUYO Furniture Co., Ltd.
KOKUYO's environmental measures include compliance to the Green Procurement Law and development of ecologically sound zero-emission products. The company's eco-friendly products include desks made of thinned wood, and notebooks made from wood harvested in FSC certified forests. The challenges the company faces when pushing such a movement forward include low awareness within the industry, difficulty of tracing supplies throughout complex supply routes, and under-developed certification systems in the exporting countries.
3. Mr. Kamei, General Manager for Environmental Management and Quality Management, President's Secretariat, ASKUL Corporation
The company took its first step to address this problem only recently. It developed its procurement policies in 2004 and published them in 2005. The policies specify that the company will use paper products made from sustainable forests' material. In 2006, the company conducted three traceability surveys of copy papers to separate legally verified products from products of which the legality is unclear. The future challenges will be rapid provision of accurate information to consumers, and the necessity to improve standards across the board.

A panelist on the supply side asked whether or not there was any preferred forest certification system to verify the legality of wood. The three panelists on the demand side answered that there is no preference of one certification system over another.

[Guest speakers' comments on the seminar and future vision]
1. Mr. Datu Hadi Len Talif Salleh, General Manager, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), Malaysia
Illegal logging is a common problem world-wide, and all nations should closely communicate and cooperate with each other in tackling this problem. The seminar has been useful, as we have been able to present the measures we are undertaking, and understand the Japanese situation and approaches. I hope that such an event will be held annually from now on. Also, it is necessary for both supplier and user nations to deepen the understanding between each other and develop and implement countermeasures together.
2. Mr. Hadi Daryant, Secretary, Directorate General of Forest Production Management, Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia
Importing nations should visit exporting nations to actually see the countermeasures in place.
3. Mr. Bruce Telfer, Asia/Pacific Manager, SGS Forest Monitoring Service, Papua New Guinea
It is not enough to criticize nations that have this problem. It is necessary to have mutual understanding and agreement with such nations but it will take much time. An effective approach to countermeasures would be to ask the wood-consuming nations to give specific proposals and financial support to implement the measures. Third-party involvement is necessary to implement countermeasures.
4. Mr. Vasiliy Shikhalev, Minister of Forestry, Khabarovsk State, Russia
The seminar this time has shown how keen the interest in this issue is in Japan. The conditions for better cooperation have been met.
5. Mr. Carl-Eric Guertin, Communications and Responsible Trade Manager of Quebec Wood Export Bureau/Canada Wood, Province of Quebec, Canada
The types and ownership styles of forests vary from one nation to another. It may be a long time before all nations take measures in accordance with the Japanese policies. It will be necessary to enhance community-based measures.
6. Mr. Michael Virga, Acting Executive Director, American Forest & Paper Association, U.S.A.
It is crucial that we hear the status report after the implementation of the procurement policies. I ask Japan to disclose how well the measures are working. If the measures are only costly and ineffective, they have only negative impacts.
7. Mr. Kouji Kadoya, Secretary-General, Forest-products Identification Promotion Conference (FIPC), Japan
Legality verification will be reinforced by indicating the place of origin. I agree that such a seminar should be held annually. I know that some government ministers attended this seminar, and ask the national government to give us support.

[From the floor]
(1) I am representing an NGO and from our point of view, it seems that there is an information gap between the user and supplier. The information that NGOs have and the information that the trading companies and the industry have need to be crosschecked and matched. The superiority of wood to other materials as an environmentally friendly material is understood by NGOs, and they do not intend to boycott its use. I hope that the industries in both exporting and importing nations understand this point.
(2) The definition of legality should not be limited to compliance with laws and regulations. I hope that legality in terms of true consideration for the natural environment and its sustainability is checked.

[The chair's summary of the discussion]
Many views and opinions have been expressed, and the discussion has covered a wide range of topics. We all share the wish to eliminate illegal logging, however, there are many difficult issues as to how we will attain that goal. If we simply say that it is costly to counter the problem, we cannot begin to solve it. We need to take necessary steps one by one to make progress.

Photo: Panel discussion