A new and updated Timber Trade Portal!

In 2021, the ITTO, the ATIBT and Form International started a new partnership for the Timber Trade Portal (TTP), which included a complete make-over of the old website and its  translation into Chinese to reach a larger audience. The TTP is a unique platform, that aims to provide an independent and clear overview of relevant information on timber legality and trade to support importing companies in their due diligence processes. The platform now has 29 country profiles and additional resources that answers the many questions that actors in the sector have about the legal timber trade, due diligence, country-specific requirements and export.

Website redesign and country profile update

During this year, the TTP website was completely re-designed and modernised by web developer 6Lab, and has become a more dynamic and user-friendly website with easier access to information. The website also has improved navigation and is better adapted to mobile phones.

Most importantly, the presentation of the country profiles was revised and the country profiles are now sub-divided into six sections of information:

• The general and forestry context of the country;
• An overview of the timber sector with export information;
• The legal and regulatory framework applicable to forest management, exploitation, processing and trade of timber;
• An overview of the key documents with some examples that traders need to prove legality of timber;
• A section on the other aspects of legality, such as bans & quotas and third-party certification
• Sources of information and useful contacts in the country.

Six new country profiles were added this year of timber producing countries, namely: Cambodia, Colombia, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands. The country profiles of Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire were updated and are to be finalised in early 2022.

This new website also includes additional information, including some new resources and information on other platforms that contain relevant information on timber trade. The resources pages include information on different kinds of certification, international  regulations, and supporting resources of ITTO. The TTP further provides regularly news items on global and country related timber trade and legality.

Chinese coverage and promotion of the TTP

This year’s update also included a complete translation of all TTP content into Chinese and included various promotional activities to reach a wider audience in support of worldwide legal timber trade. Promotional activities for the website will continue until early 2022.

This project was funded through ITTO’s Programme on Legal and Sustainable Supply Chains (LSSC) for Tropical Wood and Forest Products. As part of this programme, ITTO is partnering with the Global Green Supply Chain (GGSC) initiative, launched in Beijing in June 2018 with ITTO’s support, to create a joined platform with a view to promoting business information exchange on trade in legal and sustainable timber and forest products. Under the GGSC initiative, a group of progressive Chinese wood trading and processing enterprises already committed to increase their sustainable wood sourcing. The translation of the Timber Trade Portal website into Chinese will greatly contribute to these efforts by making information on timber legality and sustainability accessible to the Chinese audience.

Following the efforts made this year, the partnership will continue to look for opportunities to keep the website up to date and relevant to timber traders. The information contained in the country profiles on this website is regularly reviewed and updated by independent experts.

For more information on the TTP please get in touch with us here, or contact Form International or the ATIBT directly.