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.