FAO and CIFOR publish a study on timber market trends in Côte d’Ivoire
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), has published a report on the production and consumption of timber in Côte d’Ivoire.
Entitled “Demand for timber and timber products on public markets in Côte d’Ivoire” (Demandes en bois et produits dérivés dans les marchés publics en Côte d’Ivoire) the report, supported by the FAO-EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Programme (FLEGT), seeks to fill the knowledge gap on the type and volumes of timber supplied on the domestic market. The publication also quantifies the demand for timber in Côte d’Ivoire and a series of recommendations on how to increase and secure the supply of legal timber in the country, all which contribute to Côte d’Ivoire’s efforts to operationalize public procurement policies for the purchase of sustainable, legally harvested timber.
The first recommendation is to make better usage of all timber resources by maximizing the commercial potential / marketing / and utilizing traditionally discarded wood parts, such as logging waste. The second one is to reduce the production costs of industrial sawn timber for example by encouraging groups of operators to supply factories close to them, thereby decreasing transportation expenses. The third recommendation is to streamline the supply chain of legally sourced timber through the creation of partnership programs between the industrial sector and carpenters. Finally, the study recommends the establishment and the application of public procurement policies which makes the use of legally certified wood mandatory in public works.
Cote d’Ivoire has already developed public procurement policies aimed at making the use of legally sourced wood mandatory in public works. The availability of this resource on the domestic market is a decisive factor in the successful implementation of public procurement policies.
This study was conducted through field research involving all stakeholders, including representatives of the public administration at national and local level, carpenters, wood industry union representatives. This extensive process of data collection has generated an estimate of the national demand for wood products, a better understanding of the type of wooden products made by carpenters in Côte d’Ivoire, and an approximation of the country’s supply of legally sourced timber.
It is expected that knowledge generated by this report will enable CDI to further advance its public procurement policies, a key initiative towards the fight against illegal logging. Cote d’Ivoire has been instrumental in promoting dialogue and exchanges on how to increase the supply and demand of legal wood on the domestic market. To this effect, in May 2019, the Ivorian Ministry of Water and Forests hosted a regional workshop where stakeholders from Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Republic of the Congo and Gabon joined to share experiences and knowledge in the development of public procurement policies for the purchase of legally sourced timber.
Since 2013, the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme has supported 14 projects in Côte d’Ivoire, amounting to approximately USD 1.4 million, primarily focusing on providing technical support for VPA negotiations with the EU.
The FAO-EU FLEGT Programme of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations is a global demand-driven initiative that provides technical support and resources for activities that further the goals of the EU’s FLEGT Action Plan. The Programme is funded by the European Union, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom.
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