Media News Bulletin from
PEFC Asia Pacific
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4 August 2021
Responsible Procurement & Sustainable Supply Chain Roadmap for Furniture in ASEAN
The ASEAN Furniture Industries Council (AFIC) and PEFC have started on a strategic four-year sustainability roadmap to promote furniture supply chain sustainability and responsible procurement. The partnership has flexibility built in so that it can adapt and change over time, but the key goal will remain the same: to increase the demand for certified, sustainable wood. This will help improve sustainable forest management outcomes and protect the natural resources upon which we all depend, including biodiversity, watersheds, and the climate. “We welcome the opportunity to work with PEFC on a four-year project, helping our member associations and companies better understand the benefits of working with certified wood sources,” said Nicolaas K. de Lange, AFIC Secretary General. Read more
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Training in India to Meet Growing Demand for Certification |
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PEFC training is underway in India to meet the growing demand for Chain of Custody certification in India. Auditors, reviewers, and certification decision makers are invited to register for an online PEFC recognised chain of custody initial training 18-19 August 2021.The training will provide an introduction to the revised 2020 PEFC Chain of Custody standard, focusing on the changes to the input-output process, the PEFC Due Diligence System (DDS), the chain of custody methods and multi-site certification. It will also cover changes to the 2020 PEFC Trademarks standard and 2020 Certification Body Requirements standard. There's more here.
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Walking Trails Add Value in this Certified Australian Forest |
The Mt Burr Swamp Restoration Reserve is embedded within a PEFC-certified forest in Australia and, with annual support also coming from OneFortyOne, Responsible Wood was successful in obtaining funding to continue education and biodiversity improvements over the past eight months. The project was about creating a walking trail linked to Boandik culture, Indigenous use plants, and bushfoods while depicting Creation stories and involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous community. Responsible Wood partnered with Nature Glenelg Trust, a mission-driven, not-for-profit organisation which works on a wide range of biodiversity related projects in south-eastern Australia to benefit the environment and local communities. Read all about it here.
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Nipping Unsustainable Forestry in the Bud in Southeast Asia |
"It is imperative that the construction industry starts caring about sustainability in order that wood, and the forests it comes from, can be enjoyed by generations to come. Timber trade certification is a way of cleaning up supply chains and can have other far-reaching effects from curbing rampant deforestation in Southeast Asia, to stopping unscrupulous operators from engaging in illegal logging, along with banning the export of protected species." That's the style and substance of the article with the headline "Nipping Unsustainable Forestry in the Bud" as it appears in the latest issue of Millionaire Asia magazine. It actively advances the work of PEFC, Venturer Timber and Double Helix Tracking Technologies to get businesses in Southeast Asia to adopt responsible sourcing and sustainable supply chains for timber products.
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APP Recyclable Food Packaging for European Market |
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Consumer environmental awareness and demand for sustainable products and packaging have noticeably increased. This is being reflected by the move away from single-use plastics, says Christopher Wong, senior vice president and global business unit head for industrial paper at Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). In a recent interview with Packaging Europe magazine, he points to products such as Foopak Bio Natura in the range of APP recyclable food packaging for Europe, which has "outstanding moisture and liquid resistance, is fully recyclable, industrial and home compostable, and biodegradable". He explained that it is paperboard engineered with unique multi-layer, plastic-free coatings especially designed and refined to package food and drink. PEFC continues to promote sustainable packaging, so look out for more articles and features on this important topic.
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Wood in Architecture Shows MET goes Beyond NZE to WLC |
There are seemingly dozens of acronyms when it comes to dealing with - or building with - timber. Besides MET – Mass Engineered Timber - and CLT – Cross Laminated Timber - which have embedded themselves into his subconscious after years of writing about them, says Ken Hickson. Now he's come across WLC.The Whole Life Carbon (WLC) approach considers all the carbon emissions produced over the entire life cycle of a building. The World Green Building Council talks about the importance of Net Zero Emission (NZE) buildings, which is usually taken to mean the energy used in the operation of the building. Timber goes beyond NZE to meet WLC of the building, in the place of steel and concrete. Read more in this month's issue of Wood in Architecture. Pictured is the latest construction by Venturer Timberwork in Singapore, incorporating PEFC certified MET from Austria.
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Collective Action to Improve Rubber Producers' Livelihoods |
As Thailand is the world’s largest natural rubber producer, Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) is looking to work with Thai smallholders on disseminating good agricultural practices through demo farms and training centers and income diversification through agroforestry. Just an example of what can be achieved through PEFC's Supporting Sustainable Rubber campaign which was launched during a special webinar on 7 July 2021. The range of panelists, including Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC and Stefano Savi, Director, GPSNR, shared their perspectives on the urgency of supporting sustainable rubber and how collective actions are needed if we are to succeed in improving the lives of rubber producers and contribute to the SDGs.
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Advancing APEC Trade in Legally Harvested Forest Products |
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Making Sure the Key to the Future of Print is Sustainability |
The Print and Media Industry is showing all the signs of turning to sustainability in more ways than one. In its latest magazine Print Singapore it extols the virtues of sustainable printing inks, that the key to the future of print is sustainability and - perhaps best of all – runs a two-page feature headed ”Sustainability at the Heart of Book on Celebrating and Transforming Lives”. This was made possible by none other than Genevieve Chua, CEO of OVOL, which not only sponsors the paper for the magazine “from responsible forestry”, but also made sure the book was printed by PEFC-certified Times Printers on two different PEFC-certified papers, supplied by OVOL: Gold East from APP and Paperone from April. Times Printers also points out that every week “The Economist is printed on paper sourced from sustainably managed forests, recycled and controlled sources certified by PEFC”. Read more.
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If you need more information on any of the items above, or any other work by PEFC in Asia Pacific, feel free to contact:
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