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Supporting responsible forest management through sustainable trade
Tropical forests
Tropical forests are highly valued for their biodiversity and the role they play in supporting life on earth. These forests are also source of beautiful tropical timber, which people love for its durability, weather-resistance, and aesthetics. Amazon is home to the largest tropical forest system in the world, followed by the forests of the Congo Basin and the numerous systems in Southeast Asia scattered over thousands of Pacific islands and Australia.
The Forest Stewardship Council™ highly recognizes the values of tropical natural forests and has set clear target for increasing the uptake of FSC certification in tropical forest regions.
The challenge
Tropical timber is often - by default - presented as a problem. Every day tropical forests are destroyed or degraded by the conversion of forest landscapes and other destructive activities, such as unsustainable forestry. As the forest cover is continuously decreasing, tropical timber easily becomes the very symbol of deforestation. But there is more to the story - it’s important to understand what drives deforestation and degradation in tropical forests.
Irresponsible or illegal removal of timber from a tropical forest is a very small part of the problem; the real problem lies with the competition for land use. The increasing demand for agricultural products such as palm oil, beef, soy, and corn also leads to forest degradation and deforestation. In addition, new infrastructure, city extensions and the extraction of natural resources play their part in destroying the forest.
Timber can - if managed correctly – have very little impact on the forest ecosystem. At the same time, it can sustain the local economy.
Trade of tropical timber
One of the incentives for the development of sustainable forestry in these areas is the substantial income that results from the international demand for timber. If this incentive is removed, the certification is often abolished, and the area becomes vulnerable to illegal logging, or to other kinds of land use at the expense of forests.
It is therefore important to support the forestry sector in tropical countries and purchase timber from sustainable tropical forestry to support responsible development in the tropical areas.
Trade is one of the major contributors to the value of tropical forest when these are well-managed. Indeed, giving an economic value to the forest prevents them from being turned into more profitable land use such as cattle grazing or agriculture for cattle feeding.
Therefore, we address European timber importers, who specialize in tropical timber, that embrace FSC’s values and have joined the journey of raising awareness on sustainably-sourced tropical timber.
About the event
The FSC Amazon Business Encounter aims to provide a platform for professionals along the tropical timber value chain to meet, get updates on the changes in the EU market and exchange views on how to together tackle the shared challenges and drive trade of tropical timber from sustainable managed forests.
The event aims to cover but is not limited to the following topics:
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Requirements of the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR)
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Benefits of working with Lesser-Known Timber Species
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Trends and opportunities in the tropical timber trade
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The role of community forests in the tropical timber value chain
EU Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, which entered into force on 29th of June 2023, imposes a set of requirements for companies wanting to place forest-based products in the EU market. In addition, several other regulations are currently in development as part of the EU Green Deal. These include the Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSDR), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDD), and the EU Green Claims Directive.
These regulations, together with consumer awareness, corporate sustainable development goals, and civil society actions, are forming the changing market requirements for forest-based products towards stricter requirements for documentation for legality, sustainability, and exclusion of deforestation on the EU market.
Contacts
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Fernanda Vaz Pereira (FSC Brazil) at fernanda.vaz@fsc.org.br or Tijmen Hennekes (FSC Netherlands) at t.hennekes@nl.fsc.org.
Programme
08:00 – 09:00 Welcome coffee and Registration
Part 1: Keynote speakers - Perspectives and opportunities for sustainable forest management in Brazil
09:00 – 09:10 Welcoming Speech
Daniela Vilela, Executive Director, FSC Brazil
09:10 – 09:25 Sustainable wood production through forest concessions
Renato Rosenberg - Director of Forestry Concessions and Monitoring for Brazilian Forestry Service
09:25 – 09:40 Perspectives for promoting business with wood from native forests
André Aquino - Director of Forestry Development for Brazilian Forestry Service
09:40 – 10:00 EUDR – Brazilian Perspective
Zimmer de Souza Bom Gomes, Market Access Analyst for Apex Brasil - The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency
10:00 – 10:30 Coffee Break and Network Moment
Part 2: Panel - FSC & EUDR
Moderated by Tijmen Hennekes, Project Manager Tropical Timber, FSC Netherlands
10:30 – 10:35 Introduction to the Panel
Tijmen Hennekes – Project Manager at FSC Netherlands
10: 35 – 10:55 FSC & it’s Ambitions for Tropical Natural Forests
Bruno Rath – FSC Latin America Director
10:55 – 11:15 EUDR: How FSC can be a Solution to Comply with EUDR?
Cesar Gonçalves - Policy Manager at FSC International
11:15 – 11:35 Requirements of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) - European Importer Perspective
Carla Vanessa Moraes - Forest Engineer at Vandecasteele Houtimport
11:35 – 12:00 Panel
Questions & Discussion
12:00 – 14:30 Lunch & Network moment
Part 3: Panel - Tropical Timber Market Update and Outlook
Moderated by Paulo Roberto, Technical Analyst, FSC Brazil
14:30 – 14:35 Introduction to the Panel
Paulo Roberto, Technical Analyst, FSC Brazil
14:35 – 14:55 Tropical Timber Trade Flows- Updates and Outlook
Deryck Martins, Technical Director, AIMEX - Association of Wood Exporting Industries of the State of Pará
14:55 – 15:15 The Role of Lesser Known Timber Species
Daniel Bentes, Executive Director, CONFLORESTA - Brazilian Association of Forestry Concession Companies
15:15 – 15:35 Importance of Timber Market for Community Forest Management
Anderson de Araújo Reis, Technical Assistance in the FSC Forest Certification, Idesam- Institute of Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon.
15:35 – 15:50 Questions & Discussion
15:50 – 16:00 Summary and Closing Words
Daniela Vilela, Executive Director, FSC Brazil
16:00 – 18:00 Cocktail Hour and Network Moment
End of the Event
Speakers
Daniela Teixeira Vilela, Director FSC Brazil
Daniela Vilela, Executive Director of FSC Brasil. Degree in Forestry Engineering from the University of São Paulo (ESALQ/USP), specialization in Quality Management from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and specialization in Environment and Sustainability from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). She has worked for 13 years with FSC certification, in the most different areas, in a company in the cellulose sector, auditor for Chain of Custody and representation of companies in the plantation sector in FSC governance in technical working groups. At FSC Brasil, she works to promote certification and responsible forest management, advocacy actions, project management and implementation, and with the organization's norms and standards.
Renato Rosenberg, Director of Forest Concessions and Monitoring at the Brazilian Forest Service
Renato Rosenberg is an environmental engineer graduated from Poli/USP and has an academic master's degree in economics from UnB. He has extensive experience in planning, modeling and implementing infrastructure concessions and public-private partnerships, having worked in the Investment Partnership Program (PPI) and at the Ministry of Planning. Throughout his career, he served as coordinator of the National Environment Program, a partnership between the World Bank and the Federal Government, within the Ministry of the Environment. Previously, he held the position of director of diagnostics at the São Paulo State Department of the Environment.
André Aquino, Director of Forestry Development at the Brazilian Forest Service
André Aquino is Director of Forestry Development at the Brazilian Forestry Service of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Climate. Previously, André worked for 18 years at the World Bank. His last position was as program leader in sustainable development for Indonesia and East Timor, covering agriculture, environment, water management, urban management and social inclusion. André coordinated the World Bank's largest environmental program, including forest, ocean and climate change management, in Indonesia. André managed several large-scale investment operations in Asia, Africa and South America, led technical assistance to governments at national and subnational levels and studies that served as inputs for public policies. André has a Master's degree in Environmental Economics from the University of Maryland (USA), a Diploma from the Executive Program in Forestry from the University of Yale (USA), a postgraduate degree in Environmental Law from the University of Pará (Brazil) and a bachelor's degree from the Pontifical University Catholic Church of Minas Gerais (Brazil).
Zimmer de Souza Bom Gomes, Market Access Analyst at APEX - The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency
Specialist and Master in International Relations from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Since 2019, he has been an analyst at ApexBrasil. Currently, he works in the Market Access Coordination of ApexBrasil's Market Intelligence Management, where he deals with topics related to public purchases from foreign governments and regulatory issues, mainly focused on the US and Canadian markets and sustainability standards.
Gao Ya, Value Chain Development Manager at FSC International
Gao ya is a recognized forest industry expert with extensive international experience. She has specialized knowledge about wood-based industries as well as policy and technical standards in China and in multiple Southeast Asian, European and African countries. She has specialized knowledge about global softwood, hardwood, tropical hardwood and furniture markets and trade. She is also informed on the international wooden construction industry, associated policy development, markets and standardization. Today, Gao Ya works for FSC International where she leverages her knowledge and experience to support the development of sustainable timber value chains.
Bruno Rath, Director FSC Latin America
Social development, Entrepreneur. Currently, he serves the Forest Stewardship Council’s mission as Regional Director in Latin America. Before, Bruno focused on social development matters working as Director for the Peru Opportunity Fund, Country Manager in Peru for the Clinton Foundation, and others.
Cesar Gonçalves, Policy manager at FSC International
César Gonçalves has been a Policy Manager at FSC International for the past year, working in the Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood team. He holds a master’s degree in forestry engineering, specializing in wood technology. Originally from Portugal, he started his career in forest inventory and biomass assessment in Brazil; has worked as a forestry engineer in the logging sector in Portugal, developing forestry investment projects and managing chain of custody certifications. He later worked in a certification body as a technical manager and business developer, for forest-based products and services in Portugal and Spain. During this time, he was an FSC lead auditor. In the past few years, he has been an invited speaker addressing emerging topics on forestry, forest-based products, and chain of custody certification.
Carla Vanessa Moraes, Wood Traceability Expert, Vandecasteele Houtimport
Carla Vanessa Moraes is working as a Wood Traceability Expert at Vandecasteele Houtimport, a prominent Belgian importer headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium. Specializing in chain of custody control, compliance auditing, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives, Carla contributes to Vandecasteele's commitment to sourcing the largest range of certified wood exclusively from sustainably managed forests.
Before Carla started for Vandecasteele Houtimport she obtained her Masters’ degree in Forest Ecosystem Management and did an MBA in leadership and people management
Paulo Roberto de Faria Pinto, Technical Analyst at FSC Brasil
Graduated from the Federal University of Amazonas in Forestry Engineering with more than 20 years of experience, most of it working in the area of corporate forestry management in the Amazon. Worked at ProManejo UFAM/Gethal Amazonas as a field engineer, Manager of the Forestry Department at the company Gethal Amazonas (AM), Forestry Operations Coordinator at AMATA S.A (RO). Experience in forestry concessions, Head of the Wood Department at the Sustainable Development Agency do Amazonas – ADS, Socio-environmental Analyst at UHE Belo Monte in Pará.
Deryck Martins, Technical Director at AIMEX - Association of Wood Exporting Industries of the State of Pará
Forestry engineer graduated from the Federal Rural University of the Amazon - UFRA, Master's degree from the Federal University of Pará - UFPA, former environment secretary of the municipality of Belém, President of the Environmental Council of the Federation of Industries of the State of Pará (Fiepa).
Daniel Bentes, Executive Director at Confloresta - Forestry Concessionaires Association
Graduated in Environmental Engineering from UEPA (2009). Master’s in applied Ecology from USP (2012). Specialist in Business Management from SENAC (2017). From 2011- 2014 Worked as Engineer at Ferro Carajás (Project at VALE S/A) and as a professor at UEPA (2014). Between 2015 and 2018, he worked with Strategic Planning, Project Management and Public Policies at the Government of the State of Pará, having led the project management office of the Pará 2030 Program.
He works as an Environmental Consultant, having carried out work for private sector companies, the State Government and the World Bank, participating in licensing and environmental management of industrial enterprises (transformation and extractive), infrastructure and tourism.
He has knowledge and experience in the area of Physical Environment Monitoring, Licensing and Environmental Management, Business Management, Project Management, Institutional Relations and Public Management .
Anderson de Araújo Reis , Forest Certification Technical Assistant at Idesam
Master in Tropical Forest Sciences, with training in Forest Engineering, works in the Sustainable Production Strategy Initiative at Idesam as an extensionist and technical responsible for development projects in wood production chains, including Community Forest Management Plans and the production of small sized timber products, as well as non-timber forest products.
Tijmen Hennekes, Project Manager Tropical Timber at FSC Netherlands
Tijmen Hennekes works for FSC Netherlands where his main focus is on improving the business case for responsible forest management. He does this by working together with different actors from across the tropical timber value chain to grow the demand for certified tropical timber in European markets, with special attention for timber diversity and the use of lesser-known timber species.
Tijmen has a background in Forest Management, with a specialization in International Timber Trade.
This event is endorsed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Brasilia, Brazil.
