PETALING JAYA: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is looking to engage with Malaysian companies to not only promote the sustainable production of timber but also build a market for it.

The Bonn, Germany-based non-profit organisation set up an office in Malaysia in November last year, with the aim of providing timber companies direct access to its certification system, building a market for FSC wood products and supplying FSC materials in Malaysia.

The group was formed in 1993 by businesses, environmentalists and community leaders who came together to create a voluntary, market-based approach that would improve forest practices worldwide after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio failed to produce an agreement to stop deforestation.

It aims to be an alternative to the boycotts of forest products — which it has found to be counterproductive as it devalues forest land — and provides an assurance to environmentally-concerned consumers. Today, the FSC operates in more than 80 countries, or, as its website says, wherever forests are present.

FSC international board chairman Anthony Sebastian said the organisation chose to open its office in Malaysia as it is a strong economy in the region and a growing market for sustainability awareness.

“There is a strong middle-income group and through social media, youths have a very strong influence on families, civil society values and so on. This includes the workforce. This is how global awareness of sustainability spreads,” he told The Edge Financial Daily.

The FSC issues forest management certificates to forest managers and owners whose management practices meet the requirements of the FSC principles and criteria. It also issues chain of custody (CoC) certificates to companies for the responsible production of FSC-certified products.

Sebastian said FSC’s certificates will grant Malaysian timber companies greater access in high-value markets like Europe and the United States, which are very particular about the timber that is imported into the countries.

For example, the US amended the Lacey Act in 2008 to ban the sale of illegal wood. Violators of the law can face criminal and civil sanctions even if they are unaware that they are dealing with an illegally harvested product.

Sebastian said Malaysia’s biggest customers for wood products are now India and China.

He said the FSC’s initiatives would help timber companies transform their image internationally.

“Malaysian timber companies have always suffered a bad image. It’s time they have a chance to join the ranks of credible and truly sustainable companies in the world,” he said.

While the concept of using sustainable approaches to build brand loyalty is not very prominent in Asia now, it is growing fast, he added.

Governments, too, stand to win from supporting initiatives as research from the World Wildlife Fund showed that developing countries lose €10 billion (RM40.15 billion) to €15 billion every year to illegal logging, he pointed out.

According to the Malaysian Timber Industry Board, exports of wood products in Malaysia were at RM20.52 billion last year, with Asia accounting for 66% of its total exports.

So far, the FSC has issued 220 certificates to entities based here. Of that, 78 certificates are held by companies dealing in paper and paper-derived products. 

Additionally, some 525,000ha of forests in Malaysia are managed according to FSC standards.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 23, 2015.