The priorities of businesses worldwide are shifting due to the economic uncertainties casued by the Covid-19 pandemic. Many are in survival mode. At the same time, there is growing appreciation across industry, amongst politicians and societies more broadly that we should not aim simply to go back to business as usual. In line with such strategies as the EU Green Deal and as stated among others by the new European Green Recovery Alliance of NGOs, businesses and politicians, the goal should be a lower environmental impact new normal. The focus is increasingly on establishing a sustainable circular bioeconomy.

The core theme of the online 2020 Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition (STTC) Conference  in November will be how the sustainable tropical timber sector can take the opportunity of and contribute to such a post-pandemic reboot of the global economy on cleaner, greener lines.

Key topics

• The circular bioeconomic model will be a central STTC Conference topic; how it operates, its benefits and how the timber sector and the tropical timber sector in particular can form a key component of a bioeconomic future. Perspectives will come from circular economy specialists, producer countries, urban authorities and bioeconomic business innovators.
• STTC Conference speakers will examine the wider effects of the pandemic, notably, by underlining our interdependence and vulnerability, the renewed focus it has put on that other global crisis facing us – the climate emergency. The EU Green Deal will also be discussed, with its pledges to support deforestation-free value chains, restore biodiversity, eliminate net EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and boost efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy.

 Learn about

• the role of sustainable tropical timber in a circular economy
• the role of forest and biodiversity policy in minimising the risk and impact of pandemics
• innovation in forest certification
• latest sustainable tropical timber market data
• circular economy policies of cities and in construction
• the STTC’s next steps, through 2020 and beyond.

Participants and speakers

STTC Conferences gather Coalition partners and participants, trade federations, timber traders, concession holders, policy makers, NGOs and other stakeholders. This year’s event will include presentations, panel discussions, question and answer sessions and delegate thematic sessions. One of the keynotes will be delivered by  Lee White, Minister of Water and Forestry in Gabon, responsible for the implementation of the announcement by President Ali Bongo in 2017 that all Gabonese forests have to be certified for sustainable forest management by 2022. And Hugo Schally, Head of Sustainable production, products and consumption, DG Environment, coordinating and developing the European Commission’s work on the links between trade and environment as well as on deforestation and forest degradation. Other speakers are: Jeroen Nagel (Rijkswaterstaat), John Willimans (RSK), Maria Smith (Buro Happold), Tullia Baldassarri (Interholco AG), Isabelle Polfliet and Geneviève Standaert (Vandecasteele Houtimport), Iwan Kurniawan (The Borneo Initiative) and Liesbeth Gort (FSC Netherlands).