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Certified Forests

Sustainable Forest Products Alliance

Major U.S. and European manufacturers and retailers of wood and wood products have made a public commitment to increase the quantity they sell which is certified as having been produced by environmentally sustainable methods. Meanwhile, illegal and environmentally damaging logging continues, and the supply of certified timber is very limited. USAID has partnered with environmental non-governmental (NGOs) led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Global Forest and Technology Network (GFTN), related industry associations led by the Certified Forest Products Council (CFPC), socially responsible investment groups, timber manufacturers and retailers (such as International Paper, Home Depot and IKEA-US), and foundations in a global alliance to address these issues.

The global alliance will assist producing countries and local groups of producers and small businesses to meet certification standards and to implement sustainable forest management. These efforts will increase incomes for local communities and decrease negative environmental impacts, while expanding the supply of certified products available to U.S. consumers. The Sustainable Forest Products Alliance will also complement related USAID forestry activities in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Indonesia.

The Global Forest and Technology Network (GFTN) and the Certified Forest Products Council (CFPC) recently co-hosted the unprecedented Forest Leadership Forum conference which brought together 1300 participants from 45 countries in an event that CNN described as a “union of age-old rivals…uniting environmentalists and industrialists to save the world’s forests”. In related developments, WWF and IKEA as key GFTN members have forged a partnership to bolster responsible forestry development efforts around the globe, and have joined forces with USAID to ensure success through the unique combination of shared values and competence.

The Sustainable Forest Products Alliance will jointly develop tool kits and apply global building blocks for responsible forestry by implementing the following four primary activities:


The Certified Forest Products Council is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Portland, Oregon. It promotes purchasing practices in North America that support the conservation, protection and restoration of forests throughout the world. CFPC leverages the capacities of businesses, agencies and environmental organizations to stimulate improved forest management and trade practices worldwide. CFPC has also launched a business-driven Marketing Collaborative, organized as a 501(c)(6) under U.S. tax laws, to focus solely on generating business value for its member companies by performing collective marketing services and developing the market for certified forest products.


The Certified Forest Products Council has partnered with USAID to forge critical market linkages, including state of the art Internet database access, which will increase the flow of certified forest products into major North American markets. This will drive the development of sustainable forest management practices in developing countries with attendant strong development impact.


Three practical related toolkits and implementation activities are being developed as part of the new WWF/IKEA project, but with only a limited geographical focus. Cooperation with USAID will allow the toolkits and activities to be made globally available through translation into key languages, preparation of training courses to introduce them into new regions, and through national pilot studies.


WWF and USAID have a long and positive history of working together. WWF also cooperates with USAID and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service on a number of forestry environmental projects. USAID has contributed $3.5 million to the Sustainable Forest Products Alliance which will be matched by GFTN, WWF, and CFPC collectively on a two-to-one basis.


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