Every year, more than 30 million acres of natural forest are destroyed globally to meet the growing demand for wood and agricultural products.
WWF's Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) recognises that an effective response to such devastation is to turn the global marketplace into a positive force to save the world’s most valuable and threatened forests. Doing this requires the elimination of illegal logging and better management of valuable and threatened forests.
Since 1940, natural forests in Laos have been on a steady decline, dropping to 64% in the mid-1960s, 47% in 1992, and 41.5% in 2002. Forest densities have decreased dramatically with dense forests declining from 29% of total forest area in 1992 to only 8.2% in 2002.
Launched in 2009, GFTN-Laos is the Lao chapter of the network. GFTN provides support in the Chain of Custody (CoC) process, starting from promotion of the FSC scheme, and capacity building for interested companies to follow the CoC standard and link them with the EU market.
GFTN-Laos is the first GFTN office operating under a collaborative partnership programme with The Forest Trust. The strategic approach of this partnership is to develop a favorable environment for certification of natural and planted forests.
The Lao office also partners with the Lao National Chamber of Commerce to support and capacity build for its member companies, thereby creating good examples for sustainable forest management and plantation development in the country.
Read more about GFTN Laos on the WWF GFTN portal.
WWF's Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) recognises that an effective response to such devastation is to turn the global marketplace into a positive force to save the world’s most valuable and threatened forests. Doing this requires the elimination of illegal logging and better management of valuable and threatened forests.
Since 1940, natural forests in Laos have been on a steady decline, dropping to 64% in the mid-1960s, 47% in 1992, and 41.5% in 2002. Forest densities have decreased dramatically with dense forests declining from 29% of total forest area in 1992 to only 8.2% in 2002.
Launched in 2009, GFTN-Laos is the Lao chapter of the network. GFTN provides support in the Chain of Custody (CoC) process, starting from promotion of the FSC scheme, and capacity building for interested companies to follow the CoC standard and link them with the EU market.
GFTN-Laos is the first GFTN office operating under a collaborative partnership programme with The Forest Trust. The strategic approach of this partnership is to develop a favorable environment for certification of natural and planted forests.
The Lao office also partners with the Lao National Chamber of Commerce to support and capacity build for its member companies, thereby creating good examples for sustainable forest management and plantation development in the country.
Read more about GFTN Laos on the WWF GFTN portal.
