During 6-8 January 2024, the Secretariat of Global Green Supply Chains Initiative (GGSC) visited Zhangjiagang Haihong Precious Timber Trading Center, Zhangjiagang Hengsheng Timber Market and relevant enterprises investing in forestry in African countries, in an effort to implement the project “Establishing and Testing a Simulation Platform for Cross-border Timber Traceability Based on the Blockchain Technology for Building Legal and Sustainable Timber Supply Chains”, which is a collaboration output of International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM).

The aim of this field research is to understand the challenges and difficulties facing companies in conducting legal timber trade, and to explore the potential of multi-party cooperation to build an Africa-China legal and sustainable timber supply chain that is blockchain-based.

In order to advance the Green Finance for Green Supply Chains (GF4GS) Initiative, the GGSC Secretariat engaged in discussions with local enterprises in Zhangjiagang, China that provide financial services for timber supply chains.

Through the visits, the GGSC Secretariat introduced the Legal and Sustainable Supply Chain (LSSC) Programme that ITTO is actively promoting, as well as the Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) 2024 that is preliminarily scheduled to be held in Macao, China in September this year.