Page 38 - FDMAsia JulAug 2024

36 FOCUS JUL/AUG 2024 FDM ASIA | www.fdmasia.com

Shutterstock legal, and accompanied by geolocation coordinates of the
‘plot of land’ where they originated.
The EUDR was the topic of a special seminar at the CIB,
jointly hosted by the International Tropical Timber Technical

Association (ATIBT) and the American Hardwood Export
Council (AHEC). The representatives of companies operating
large concessions in Africa that spoke at this event were
confident in their existing systems and strategies to meet
the EUDR requirements.
Vincent Istace, CSR head of Olam Agri, parent of CIB in
the Republic of Congo highlighted that deforestation across
How this standoff plays out, and the wider challenges the Congo Basin is now less than one percent annually and
of providing geolocation coordinates of harvest sites for a that FSC-certified sustainable management further minimised

composite product like wooden furniture, particularly when the risk of forest loss.
the wood is derived from smallholders or imported from third “In our almost two million hectares of certified forest we
countries, is expected to have a very significant impact on operate a cutting cycle of one tree per ha every 30 years.
European market access for wooden furniture starting next year. Our processes include social, habitat and wildlife protections
The impact will be greatest for exports to EU countries, and we have a major planting programme,” he said.
less so for exports to the UK where legal obligations remain He said CIB was also confident its traceability systems
tied to the UK Timber Regulation (mirroring the EU Timber would aid compliance. “Using id numbers for each tree, we

Regulation). can track timber from stump, through processing,” he said.
However, large UK retailers are calling for the UK to align It was also pointed out that each forest concession could
more closely with EUDR and—under a newly-elected Labour be counted as a single ‘plot of land’ for EUDR geolocation
government ambitious to lead on environmental issues and purposes.
to be closer to the EU—it may be that exports to the UK Emmanuel Bon, general director of Cameroon-based
will, in time, be subject to an equivalent standard. Alpicam also said his company was trusting in FSC sustainable
forest management certification, which it achieved in 2023,
Tropical and temperate hardwood suppliers exchange and its tracking and forest inventory systems, to satisfy EU
views on EUDR customers due diligence requirements.

A key topic of discussion at the Carrefour Internationale du He said it recorded geolocalised data for cutting areas
Bois (CIB) exhibition in Nantes, France at the end of May was as a matter of course and uploaded the information into the
the time and effort businesses are having to put into preparing Cameroon government operated SIGIF 2 ‘computerised forest
for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). information management system’. This, he maintained, allows
There is now just six and half months before it comes into tracking of timber ‘from the cut to the port of shipment’.
force. It will require that operators and large traders placing
timber and other ‘forest and eco-system risk commodities’ EUDR an ‘existential challenge’ for US hardwood

(FERCS) on the EU market, or exporting them from it, exports to the EU
undertake due diligence to ensure they are deforestation-free, Speaking at the CIB seminar, AHEC representatives highlighted