Tropical Forests: Project in Switzerland

Project in Switzerland

Voluntary agreements on the use of sustainably produced tropical timber in Swiss industry

Promotion of imports of sustainably produced timber

In the summer of 2004, the Federation of Swiss Door Producers (VST) and the environmental organisations Greenpeace Switzerland and WWF Switzerland signed an agreement concerning the supply of timber and timber products for the Swiss door manufacturing industry. The agreement envisages that VST members do not use illegally produced timber and exclusively use sustainably produced timber in the medium term. This change of attitude on the demand-side provides incentives on the supply-side that result in responsible forest management in the producing countries.

Such voluntary agreements follow Swiss government policy, which promotes the sustainability of timber production and the transparency of trade on a voluntary basis. This agreement can serve as a model for the timber industry. In Switzerland it provided an impulse for further talks to introduce voluntary standards for the sourcing and use of wood involving environmental organisations, the timber trade, the timber industry and the timber processing industry.