The Global Timber Tracking Network (GTTN) Regional Workshop for Asia is taking place on 22-24 May 2019 in Beijing, China. The workshop is organized back-to-back with the IAWA-IUFRO International Symposium “Challenges and Opportunities for Updating Wood Identification” held on 20-22 May 2019.
From around the globe, the Global Timber Tracking Network (GTTN) brings specialists together to further cooperation, development and promotion of innovative technologies to screen and/or validate wood species and its origin. These include genetics analysis, stable isotope analysis, mass spectrometry, NIRs, modern wood anatomy tech and other methods.
GTTN promotes these methods with customs, law enforcement agencies, third-party certifiers of responsible forest management, forest-based industries, traders and other actors to independently verify chain-of-custody traceability documentation or to establish species and origin in absence of such documentation.
The GTTN Regional Workshop provides an opportunity to increase regional discussion and cooperation between method developing community and the potential user community, to strengthen both capacities and cooperation amongst Asian countries, with the goal to jointly help securing a legal wood trade.
There are many reasons to have a GTTN regional workshop for Asia. Asia is a region with important timber-producing countries like Indonesia and Vietnam. In the first case, Indonesia is the first, and currently the only, country in the world that is issuing FLEGT licensed timber. Likewise, Vietnam has recently signed its FLEGT VPA. Furthermore, China leads the list of top 10 timber importers based on their percentage of global import purchases. China has been setting up new legislation to promote legally sourced timber and timber products, addressing supply-chain actors both domestically and in timber source countries.
Please find the event concept note here. Please REGISTER to make sure you that we can inform you directly as soon as the registrations open.
