Project

Issues

• Sustainable forest management (SFM) is fundamental for the achievement of national, regional and international environmental objectives, particularly as governments transition to low-carbon economies and work toward improving the quality of life in communities, among other things.
• Public awareness is still lacking about SFM and its importance, including knowledge about the negative impacts of illegal logging and its extent, and how SFM, legality, and the necessity for maintaining healthy wood markets are all linked.

Aim

This project seeks to understand the current level of consumer awareness among different groups in the supply chain and gaps in existing awareness-raising initiatives. The project will address the gap through the development of awareness campaigns tailored to the three countries and their context, with an emphasis on the impact of illegal logging on forest communities, ecosystems, and Indigenous communities, and access to information on surveillance actions in which the population can participate.

The project’s public awareness campaigns will thus seek to empower consumers at various levels of the supply chain who purchase wood products, helping them to become actors of change by promoting citizen participation in monitoring compliance with environmental legislation and by informing the population about the negative impacts of illegal logging, particularly in forest communities, ecosystems, and indigenous communities, and the applicable penalties. Specifically, a broad number of actors and stakeholder groups will be invited to participate in workshops, including youth, women, and Indigenous People, and they will be the target audience for the public awareness campaigns. The project will also include Indigenous perspectives and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) as well as a gender perspective.

Deliverables

• A report summarizing existing programs aimed at raising consumers’ awareness of sustainable forest management and illegal logging, including their impacts on forest communities, ecosystems and Indigenous communities, and participatory environmental monitoring activities that combat illegal logging.
• Key messages and public awareness campaign material tailored to each country made available in the three languages, to communicate the importance of responsible purchasing of wood products, sustainable forest management, and illegal logging in North America, including the recognition of the impact on forest communities, ecosystems and Indigenous communities, and to raise awareness of the citizen participation mechanisms that can be used to identify illegal logging practices in North America and the applicable sanctions.