Ecolabeling to be a voluntary measure
Ecolabeling to be a voluntary measure
JAKARTA (JP): The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) said yesterday that ecolabeling will not become a non- tariff trade barrier in the future because the measures will be applied by tropical timber producers on a voluntary basis.
ITTO's executive director, B.C.Y. Freezailah, told reporters that in the year 2000, when worldwide ecolabeling goes into effect, consumer countries of tropical timber will be able to choose whether or not to import products from forests managed in a sustainable manner.
"Because it's voluntary it will not become a trade barrier. It is up to the consumers to choose between a good or bad product," Freezailah said.
He expressed his hope that by the year 2000 all exports of tropical timber from ITTO member countries will come from sustainably managed forests.
The ITTO, which is an inter-governmental organization under the United Nations, presently groups 51 countries.
Twenty-four of these are tropical timber producing countries covering more than 75 percent of the world's tropical forest resources, while the remaining 27 are consuming countries accounting for more than 95 percent of the world's tropical wood imports.
The organization was established to ensure the implementation of the provisions outlined in the 1983 International Tropical Timber Agreement.
"Now, every year the ITTO receives reports from government agencies on how each member country is moving towards the year 2000," he said.
"Last year, independent consultants mentioned that Indonesia, together with Malaysia and Ghana, will be the most ready to achieve sustainable development by the year 2000," he said.
Freezailah, who is a member of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, acknowledged that the ITTO has not taken a formal stance on ecolabeling and does not have any authority to ban or regulate countries which fail to comply with the requirements.
He explained that ITTO is committed to promoting the trade of tropical timber and the processing of timber to attain value- added products as well as better prices for tropical timber.
"Any form of a ban or restriction on the (tropical timber) trade is against the spirit of our agreement," he said.
Should a country or company fail to conduct sustainable forest management and continue selling its products, he said, "It can sell but it may lose its market share".
Presently, he said, 80 percent of timber on the global market originates from temperate and boreal forests and not from tropical regions.
Freezailah made his comments after signing an agreement yesterday with the Ministry of Forestry and the Prosea (Plant Resources of Southeast Asia) Foundation, whose joint project to compile a reference book and a data bank on lesser-known Southeast Asian timber species will be sponsored by a Rp 2.25 billion (US$978,260) loan from the ITTO under the agreement. The book will contain information on 320 genera of some 2,000 species of lesser-known timber.
The signing ceremony was attended by the ministry's Director General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation R. Soemarsono and a deputy head of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Aprilani Soegiarto.
Since 1987, the ITTO has provided $8.5 million in loans to the ministry for research, rehabilitation, conservation, training and inventory projects. (pwn)