Segi Enam attended a Stakeholder Dialogue at Tamu Hotel & Suites Kuala Lumpur organised by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) from 31st October to 1st November 2022. Former Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities opened the dialogue emphasising the need to focus more on the upstream market with concerted efforts to comply with US and EU regulations. The keynote address by Dr Michael Berger, CEO of Programme of the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) was focused on the recent policy change by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) on the cut-off date. During the FSC General Assembly in Bali on 13th October 2022, the members passed Motion 37/2021 which changes the cut-off date for authorised forest conversion from November 1994 to December 31 2020. Read more about it here.
CEO of MTCC, Siti Syaliza Mustapha spoke about Malaysia’s commitment to maintaining 50% of forest cover. Currently, approximately 5.6 million ha is certified by Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), which is also looking to expand certification to non-timber forest plantation products, primarily natural rubber, bamboo, rattan and honey/honeycomb - essentially rubber and NTFPs gone industrial. There is also ongoing work to maintain its status with PEFC every 5 years and plans to look into the European Union (EU) new deforestation regulation.
The dialogue was separated into a few different sessions, each with its own focus. Stakeholders from various groups were invited to speak and share their thoughts, and the meeting was convened primarily on the new non-forest certification draft titled “Guidelines on Application of Requirements for Non-Timber Forest Products Certification in MTCS ST 1002:2021 Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme”.
Source: MTCC (2022)
In the first session, “Policy and Direction of Forest Plantations in Malaysia”, the Malaysian Timber Industry Board, Forest Development Sarawak and Sabah Forestry Department shared about the current status of Malaysia’s forest plantations and the latest goals for forest plantations. There are concerns about the lack of workers and the lack of markets.
The second session focuses on the current and future trends of timber. As reported by MTC, Malaysia's total timber trade for 2022 (up till August) is at RM23.5 billion (Export: RM17.4 billion; Import: RM6.1 billion). Exports to the USA, Japan, Singapore and Australia grew at double digits; dominated by (45%) wooden furniture.
Source: MTCC (2022)
Source: MTCC (2022)
The various challenges in obtaining certification include labour, the previous cut-off date by FSC and land dispute issues.
Green Building Index (GBI) presented a brief of its rating tool which was launched in 2009 to assess and recognise buildings that meet the green standards; unfortunately, use of certified product is only one out of its 100 indicators, which is hardly encouraging of its use!
During the panel discussion, the main focus was on how stakeholders are affected by forest certifications, whether the 2010 cut-off date is still relevant and what are the impacts of any changes in the cut-off date. Seems that forest certification to some extent greatly affects businesses due to compliance but certification also helps to protect native people’s way of life. However, it seems new players in the timber industry find it difficult to be certified due to the 2010 cut-off and will benefit from the changes in the cut-off date.
The second day of the dialogue was on non-timber products. Main focus on bamboo, herbal plants and Agarwood. Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) also presented its involvement in the natural rubber industry and its future plans to develop the Knowledge Sharing Platform for Smallholders. In 2021, GPSNR published the Good Agriculture Practices which can be found here.
The final presentation of this session created much buzz. The Malaysia Forest Funds (MFF) introduced the country's REDD Plus plan, to help Malaysia’s commitment to achieving net neutrality under the Paris Agreement. Read more about it here, and in our upcoming blog post on it.
Source: MTCC (2022)
Source: MTCC (2022)
MTCC discussed further details of the draft guidelines on the Certification of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP), asking participants to provide feedback. From the floor, this included comments about the need for a more defined term as to “appropriate safety and operational equipment”, more commitment to help smallholders, to expand the coverage to plantations outside of forest areas and not to affect the rights of indigenous people. A remark was also made by SIRIM that guidelines cannot be audited. This means that MTCC needs to develop principles, criteria and indicators.
research@segi-enam.com | 25 Nov 2022