Co-hosted by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), the Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) 2023 is scheduled to held on 21–22 November 2023, in Macao, China, at the Galaxy International Convention Center. It aims to increase networking, collaboration and business exchange among timber industry stakeholders—producers, buyers, processors and market players—with a view to promoting sustainable forest management, creating legal and sustainable wood product supply chains, facilitating the legal and sustainable use and trade of wood products in a stable, transparent and predictable business environment, and contributing to sustainable development and climate-change mitigation.

Forum structure

The Forum will be held annually starting in 2023, and it will comprise two components:

1) The Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum. The theme will be “connect, cooperate and share to promote the recovery of the global tropical timber market”.

2) Several specialized sub-forums. These might be on selected topics related to timber legality and sustainability; sustainable timber resources, markets and trade; advanced technology and machinery for wood processing; green finance and innovative facilitating measures for green supply chains.

A legal and sustainable timber industry display will be organized in parallel with the Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum, at a trial scale of 20–30 booths.

Besides, the Global Timber Index (GTI) annual report and the Blockchain-based Timber Tracking System technical report (outputs of ITTO-IPIM collaborative projects implemented by GGSC) will be released at the Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum 2023. Other business activities, such as B2B matchings, can be arranged.

Co-hosts & organizer

The Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum will be co-hosted by ITTO and IPIM and organized by the Secretariat of the Global Green Supply Chain Initiative (GGSC). The specialized sub-forums will be co-organized by partner agencies; ITTO, IPIM and the GGSC Secretariat may also organize such forums.

Participants

The Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum 2023 is expected to attract around 500 participants from wood enterprises and trading companies, industrial and business associations, governments, international organizations, research institutions, etc.

For the draft agenda of the main forum, concept notes of 4 specialized sub-forums, as well as the general information notes for the 2023 forum, please see:

Third Announcement, draft agenda - Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum 2023.pdf