Joining forces for the forest
For many years, we have been committed to working with different partners to strengthen and conserve the world’s forests. Today we collaborate with various organisations worldwide to improve forestry practices and protect, manage and restore forests, including planting new forests, mapping forests in need of protection and promoting responsible forest management. This includes collaborating with governments on forest policies, developing academic programs with scientific institutes and taking part in initiatives with non-governmental organisations to improve the conditions for people who depend on forests for their livelihoods.
IKEA and WWF
Our largest forest partnership is with WWF. Working side-by-side for over 20 years, covering 21 countries, our global partnership has been instrumental in increasing transparency across wood supply chains. We act together to preserve and enhance biodiversity by strengthening national forest policies, legislation, and governance structures and improving forest management practices. We also work together with smallholders and indigenous communities, exercising forest stewardship to receive increased benefits. Leading by example, through cooperation and common goals, we demonstrate that it is possible to produce responsibly at scale while conserving nature, enhancing biodiversity, and fairly benefiting communities.
“Together with global partners, we will continue to work towards making responsible wood sourcing the industry norm, contributing to building resilient forest landscapes and improving biodiversity.”
– Mikhail Tarasov, Global Forestry Manager IKEA of Sweden
The partnership has contributed to:
- Strengthening of forest policy, improving forest management practices and increasing FSC-certified forests by 36 million hectares, to drive market transformation towards responsibly sourced wood in Europe and Asia. We aim for global impact, and also have projects in South America.
- The mapping of the most significant old-growth forests in the Carpathian regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, where 344 thousand hectares are now under long-term protection status.
- Support of responsible forest management across 78,874 hectares in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Working with acacia plantation smallholders in Vietnam to promote responsible forest management has resulted in increased resilience against climate change and improved livelihoods for the smallholders and their communities while enhancing biodiversity.
- At COP15 in 2022, the launch of an initiative together with WWF, the FSC and leading companies to fast-track biodiversity assessments in FSC-certified forests of Brazil, Finland and Sweden. With data on biodiversity generally lacking, the initiative represents an important step towards creating a solid base for global forest management certification scheme to allow monitoring biodiversity and demonstrating conservation outcomes.
