Market opportunities thanks to sustainability certificates for tropical wood

Both certification standards go far beyond the minimum requirements of legality, setting out more extensive demands in regard to environmental and social sustainability in forestry as well as an uninterrupted chain of custody. The increasingly stringent legal requirements in importing countries will benefit trade in sustainably certified timber in the medium term. The total forest area under FSC certification was 195 million hectares at the end of 2018, which is greater than the area of Germany, France, Spain and Italy combined. But only about 10 % of that area covers tropical and subtropical forests and afforestations, which means they are still highly underrepresented in terms of FSC certification. Precious Woods manages about 7 % of the total FSC-certified tropical and subtropical forest area.