Last week the Solomon Islands sawn timber industry hosted a delegation of the New Zealand timber industry.
Solomon Islands currently exports around SBD$23 million (NZ$4 million) of sawn timber to New Zealand each year with the value of the trade having increased significantly over the past 10 years.
The New Zealand delegation comprised some of the main buyers of Solomon Islands sawn timber. All are members of the New Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group (NZ ITTG), which includes timber importers, retailers and conservation organisations such as Greenpeace (also on the trip). New Zealand ITTG members work with producers to actively seek and develop sources of sustainably managed tropical timber.
As in many parts of the world, New Zealand consumers want assurances that the timber products they buy have been sourced from legally and sustainably managed forests. Australia and New Zealand, which are the two main markets for sawn timber from Solomon Islands, both require some form of legality assurance for market entry.
Systems to ensure the legality of timber sourced from Solomon Islands were the main topic of conversation during the visit. The Solomon Islands industry and NZ ITTG have agreed to collaborate on a number of initiatives to develop a system of third party legality assurance over the next two years. This will involve the establishment of an independent organisation that will audit sawn timber production to ensure that the source and legal production of timber can be demonstrated. This is seen as an important first step towards sustainable forest management.