Sustainable Forest Trade in the Lower Mekong Region
About the Programme
The State of Forest Trade in the Lower Mekong Region
By 2050, the gap between global supply and demand of wood products will have increased significantly, estimates say, pushing source areas to extract more wood. This will only add more pressure on already scarce and degraded forest resources.
Across Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, surging global and regional demand for timber, forest products, and agricultural products are mounting the pressure on forests and land resources in the region.
The UN-REDD Programme supports countries in the Lower Mekong Basin and China to strengthen their forest governance, and to ensure that trading of wood products is legal and sustainable.
8 Focus Areas
Regional Trends
Lower Mekong in transition: unpacking the trends of forest trade
Finance
Banking on sustainable timber: what role do banks play?
Communications Campaigns
Do people care about forest crime?
SMALLHOLDERS and MSMEs
Making timber trade equitable and sustainable
Endangered Species
Protect & verify: Legally trading CITES-listed trees species
Forest Monitoring
Better data for better decisions
Forest Certification
Why certify? A closer look into voluntary forest certification
Social & Environmental Monitoring
Navigating data and information systems
Programme Outcomes
Finding Solutions
Fighting illegal logging and trade calls for effective governance systems. They will not only improve law enforcement, but also support transparent tracking and proof of legal and sustainable timber production, processing, and trade.
Promoting Responsible Investments
Investing in wood-related products and industries must abide by the law and support sustainable trade. Understanding regional trade and investments in raw wood and forest products, as well as regional cooperation are critical to turning around illegal forest exploitation and to boost financial support for sustainable projects.
Learn about how our initiative works
Across the Lower Mekong Basin and China, the surging demand for timber is putting pressure on forests. The UN-REDD Lower Mekong initiative helps strengthen forest governance, and ensure that trading of wood products is legal and sustainable.
Our Partners
National Governments
Forest Administrations, Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Ministries of Planning, and others. The programme will promote dialogue, coordinated policies, and boost dialogue and cooperation between LMR countries and China.
Private and public companies
All companies along wood products supply chains, from harvesting all the way to processing and sellers, plus actors in the finance sector. Forest related companies will be critical to ultimately drive the change needed.
Forest-dependent communities
Improvements in forest governance will lead to more secure, transparent, and consistent tenure and use rights, and will also provide opportunities for local communities to engage in forest product value chains for livelihood improvement. The project partners with RECOFTC (The Centre for People and Forests) at regional level.
Project results
Stronger regional cooperation supports legal, sustainable forest-products trade across the Lower Mekong Region and China
Improved forest governance ensures legal and sustainable production of forest related products.
Improved monitoring of forest and land use due to better data accessibility and management
