FSC Amazon Business Encounter 2024
Supporting Sustainable Timber Trade between Brazil and the EU
When? October 31st 2024
Where? Belem, Brazil
What is it about?
The FSC Amazon Business Encounter 2024 is 4th edition in a series of events that FSC organizes to support sustainable trade within the tropical timber value chain. Other examples are the FSC Asia Business Encounter, the Carrefour du Bois (Nantes) Business Encounter and the FSC Amazon Business Encounter 2023. The concept of the business encounter brings together professionals along the tropical timber value chain and gives the opportunity to discuss global supply chain challenges, whilst building and maintaining relationships between supplier and buyers.
The first FSC Amazon Business Encounter was held in 2023 in Belem, Brazil. During this event FSC gathered 130 different stakeholders of the Amazonian wood supply chain. This year, the event will cover a range of important topics, including:
- FSC Aligned Certification for EUDR
- Developments around exporting regulations: CITES implementation Brazil
- Tropical timber market update
- Business Matchmaking Session
Who should attend?
We are inviting professionals engaged in the tropical timber and wood product trade between Brazil and the EU, including forest managers, sawmills, traders, importers, manufacturers, and end-users, consultants, and industry organizations. We aim to welcome up to 100 participants, so please register as soon as possible. Seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
How to register
We invite you to attend this event by registering through this form.
Background
If Europe had sourced 100% verified sustainable tropical timber products, it would have positively impacted over 16 million hectares of semi-natural and natural tropical forests and significantly reduced CO2 emissions in 2020. This finding comes from an extensive study by the Probos Foundation, which also highlighted that only 31 – 36% of Europe's tropical timber imports in 2021 came from sustainably managed forests.
The Amazon Basin spans a whopping area of 6.7 million square kilometers (about twice the size of India) in South America, with nearly 60% of the rainforest located in Brazil and the remainder distributed among eight other countries. A wide range of policies, strategies, laws, and regulations have been developed to facilitate forest governance and achieve sustainable forest management.
Recently, Brazil announced plans to establish new forest concessions strategically aimed at enhancing sustainable forest management practices and conserving biodiversity. “Concessionary rights are one of our best tools to protect Brazilian forests from deforestation and to safeguard social rights. That is why the Brazilian Forest Agency is planning to grow the current 1,6 million hectares of concessions to 5 million in the coming 5 years.” - said Renato Rosenberg, Director of Concessions, in 2023.
In addition to state forest concessions, privately owned forest management units play a crucial role in the sustainable management of the Amazon rainforest. As of July 2024, 9.53 million hectares of natural and planted forests in Brazil had been certified under the FSC certification system.
Brazil is the world’s second-largest exporter of tropical logs and the third-largest exporter of tropical sawn wood, with Europe being a key export market for these products. In 2020, the EU27+UK imported 150 tonnes of logs, 196,200 tonnes of sawn wood, 4,000 tonnes of plywood and 200 tonnes of veneers. This makes Europe, together with the US and China, one of Brazil’s top three export partners.
The market requirements in the EU and UK, shaped by consumer environmental awareness, green public procurement policies, industry norms, and regulations like EUDR and CSDR, present both new opportunities and challenges for those involved in the production, trade, and utilization of tropical wood products.
As noted earlier, a vast area of forest needs protection from illegal logging, poaching and land conversion. Simultaneously, local governments, NGO's and forest management organizations are making great efforts to enforce environmental laws, empower indigenous peoples and ensure safe work conditions. Sustainable trade with the EU and the demand for FSC certified products supports these efforts.
Program
TBA
Speakers
TBA
Contact
If you have any questions regarding this event, please feel free to contact Elson Fernandes (FSC Brazil) at e.lima@br.fsc.org, or Tijmen Hennekes (FSC Netherlands) at t.hennekes@nl.fsc.org or Gao Ya at y.gao@fsc.org (FSC International).