Government officials and representatives from the wood products and construction sectors and civil society have supported the "Vancouver Invitation on Forest Products for a Better Future". The Vancouver Invitation is a statement of intent that aims to create a larger community of stakeholders in support of sustainable forest management (SFM), maintaining forests and creating sustainable forest value chains for achieving the SDGs.

Canada developed the Invitation (ECE/TIM/2018/3) with input and support from the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) countries. Governments, industry representatives and civil society then endorsed the Invitation at the 76th Session of the UNECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry (COFFI), which convened in Vancouver, Canada, from 5-9 November.

In the Invitation, COFFI member States invite others to recognize and promote the value of sustainably produced wood products as "environmentally friendly materials with which to build the future". The Invitation argues that the view of the wood products sector as a sector with negative environmental impacts and decreasing economic benefits is "seriously outdated". Instead, the Invitation emphasizes the "essential role" of the forest product sector in the planet`s future, explaining that traditional and innovative wood products and applications, when combined with SFM techniques, can provide environmental, economic and social benefits.


Source: http://sdg.iisd.org