Maximizing the benefits of timber certification in Java’s furniture industry.

But the area’s teak forests are decreasing. And if the industry collapses, people will have no incentive to grow the valued trees. That would mean hardship for the 177,000 workers (many of them women) in small and medium enterprises who process about 2 million cubic meters of wood each year.

To ensure high demand and a good price for legal timber, CIFOR-ICRAF has helped the Small-scale Furniture Producers’ Association of Jepara gain legality verification, leading to higher production, sales and profits for 85% of its members. This verification is something many small-scale furniture makers would be unable to do on their own because of the high cost.

In 2017, Indonesia’s timber legality assurance system (SVLK) was the first in the world to be approved for the European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) license, which allows legal timber and timber products to bypass strict timber regulation requirements and smoothly enter Europe’s markets. A recent decision to waive the need for verified legal licenses has put this system in question.

CIFOR-ICRAF will continue to support the use of legal wood for the benefit of the thousands of small- and medium-scale enterprises in Jepara, including the women who carve, sand and finish the furniture.