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โครงการหนังสออเล็กทรอนกสด้านการเกษตร เฉลมพระเกียรตพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว
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TEAK IN MEKONG

MESSAGE FROM ITTO

For more than three decades, ITTO has been assisting its tropical member countries in their
efforts to manage forests sustainably. To this end, the Organization promotes timber production
from legal and sustainable sources that simultaneously maintains the ecological values,
productivity, resilience and natural regeneration capacity of tropical forests and the cultures
and livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.

As part of its work, ITTO is piloting the Legal and Sustainable Supply Chains Programme to
encourage the establishment of and best practices on legal and sustainable supply chains in
productive tropical forest landscapes. Such supply chains minimize the negative environmental
impacts on forests, biodiversity and the environment while respecting the customary user rights
of Indigenous Peoples and local communities while enriching livelihoods, enhancing gender
equity, health and safety and encourages inclusive participation.

Natural teak forests cover about 2 9 million hectares in central and southern India, the Lao
People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar and Thailand. These forests play crucial
roles in the livelihoods, economies and environment of the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Teakwood is recognized as one of the world’s most sought after and valuable hardwoods, and
it has long been used for a range of products in furniture manufacturing, the ship-building
industry and construction. Legal and sustainable teakwood supply chains—from the tree in the
forest to shelves in the marketplace can bridge the transition towards a circular bioeconomy.
Conversely, illegality and overexploitation can cause the degradation and loss of teak forests
in countries that lack the necessary legal and institutional frameworks to counter the immense
force of illegal activities across borders.

I am delighted that the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Government of the
Federal Republic of Germany (BMEL), established a partnership with ITTO to improve the
conservation and sustainable management of teak forests and legal and sustainable teakwood
supply chains in the Mekong subregion. I am deeply grateful to BMEL for their support in
facilitating the capacity building of institutions within and outside governments in the
subregion to promote the sustainable management of teak forests and create transparent
teakwood supply chains between smallholders, processors and consumers.

I also highly appreciate the collective efforts of the implementing teams in the Mekong region
- the Cambodia Forestry Administration, the Lao PDR National Agriculture and Forestry
Research Institute, Myanmar’s Forestry Department and Forest Research Institute, Thailand’s
Royal Forest Department and Kasetsart University, and the Vietnamese Academy of Forest
Sciences—for their valuable contributions to the BMEL-supported teak partnership.

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