The role of marketing in promoting a sustainable trade in forest products in tropical regions

There appears to be consensus between many forest products firms and environmental groups that, whereas the harvest of timber is essential to the economic well-being of many tropical countries, the timber industry must adopt a philosophy of sustain ability, both in the tropical and temperate regions. Improved marketing techniques can provide managers in the forest products industry with the opportunity to move towards a basis of sustainability in a number of ways. This paper explores four areas where marketing can help to promote sustain ability of the tropical forest resource. The areas described include: 1) facilitating the more effective flow of information from markets and customers, 2) evaluating the use of sustainable timber certification programs, 3) developing increased market access for lesser-used tropical timber species and, 4) developing increased market access of non-traditional forest products.