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Forests already deliver what the nature-positive agenda is asking for: biodiversity, carbon storage, water regulation, renewable materials and livelihoods. The difficulty is not identifying these benefits. It is creating systems capable of protecting them and managing them together in a holistic manner. Source: Timberbiz This challenge shaped the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) side event on the co-benefits of tropical forests, held on 15 July 2026 during the Global Nature Positive Summit in Kumamoto, Japan. The session opened with remarks from Mr Tanimura, Deputy Director of Japan’s Forestry Agency, who recognised ITTO’s contribution to tropical forests over the past 40 years. He also highlighted Japan’s continuing commitment to forests and forestry, including a new policy emphasis on greater private-sector engagement and vitality. Moderated by Jennifer Conje of ITTO, the panel brought together perspectives from research, conservation, business and certification. Ronald C. Estoque of Japan’s Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute examined the different pressures affecting tropical forest landscapes. Shinichi Kawai of WWF Japan addressed the difficulty companies face in tracing location-specific impacts through supply chains. Junko Kikuchi of Nippon Koei reflected on community participation and human rights. Thorsten Arndt, PEFC International’s Head of Advocacy, considered how sustainable forest management and certification can support implementation. Across these perspectives, one point stood out. “The central question is not how to ask more of forests, but how to recognise, manage and reward the benefits they already provide,” Thorsten said. Tropical forests make this challenge especially visible. They are ecologically significant, but also lived-in landscapes that provide food, income, and materials to millions of people. Any approach that separates environmental outcomes from the socio-economic realities of forest communities will remain fragile. The nature-positive agenda reflects the direction set by the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: halting biodiversity loss, enabling recovery and strengthening ecosystem resilience. Research presented during the session showed why implementation must respond to different forest conditions. Where degradation has reduced ecosystem functions, recovery may require active intervention. Forests under pressure need timely action through sustainable management.  Relatively intact forests need continued stewardship before degradation expands into them. Thorsten compared them to apps: each is designed to do something specific, but none can operate effectively without an underlying system connecting it to what happens in the forest. “Frameworks can be compared to apps – they need an operating system,” he said. “For forests, that operating system is sustainable forest management, supported by credible certification.” Sustainable forest management provides the foundation. Certification contributes the assurance structure through which broad objectives can be translated into verifiable management requirements, stakeholder participation, independent assessment and evidence of responsible practice. It also connects common global expectations with national and local realities. A credible system must provide consistency and confidence while remaining workable for the people responsible for implementation. The task is not to replace that operating system each time a new framework emerges. It is for certification to is to strengthen it so that new tools and expectations can build on a sound foundation. This is why biodiversity tools and frameworks are valuable: they help identify higher-risk regions and commodities, structure assessments and prioritise action. Panellists noted however, that global tools cannot replace local assessment and traceability. Nature-positive ambition will not strengthen forests simply because more frameworks exist. It will do so when those frameworks lead to better decisions in the forest. The discussion also highlighted a gap in many nature frameworks: their social foundations remain less developed than their environmental metrics. Community engagement cannot be reduced to consultation after decisions have already been made. The rights, knowledge and priorities of local communities need to shape projects from the beginning. Forest communities are often expected to carry the costs of conservation while the benefits are distributed much more widely. Where sustainable management cannot compete economically with conversion, forest loss reflects the incentives built into the system. Certification cannot solve this problem alone, nor can it replace effective public policy, finance or strong local institutions. It can, however, make responsible management visible, verifiable and connected to markets and institutions that value it. Thorsten stressed that nature positive can only succeed if it is also people positive. Forest owners, workers and communities need to see a viable future in managing forests sustainably and keeping them standing. Ultimately, nature-positive ambition will be judged by whether forests remain valuable to the people responsible for their future.

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Environmentalists say European forests need to be managed differently. With France and Spain struggling to contain raging wildfires, and others from Germany to Greece on high alert, Europe is discussing how to stop this happening again next year. Source: Eurativ Europe experienced its worst wildfire season on record in 2025 – a record it is on track to break over the coming weeks. “For the next days, the risk is again going to rise, and not only in Spain and France, but also in Greece,” an EU official told the press on Monday. But while Brussels is deploying personnel and aircraft to help local firefighters, an emergency response alone will not be enough to contain the flames, the European Commission warned on Monday. “When you’re on the ground and you’re seeing flame lengths of over 15 metres, as we’ve seen in Spain, in France … there’s nothing you can do,” the official said. Addressing the root causes of wildfires, such as increasingly frequent heat waves, will require long-term policies. But there are ways to reduce the risk in the short term, said Tammouz Eñaut Helou, secretary-general of the French forest owners’ association UCFF. This includes raising awareness about how to prepare for outbreaks of fire, Helou said, such as “maintaining access tracks through forests to allow firefighters to operate more effectively during interventions”. This is an area where Brussels can play a role beyond simply sending aircraft once fires are already raging, Helou added. “The future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should continue to allow funding for the creation and maintenance of these forest access routes.” Another key measure is clearing scrub land and stubble to reduce the amount of flammable biomass and slow the spread of fires. “It is very important to have actions that manage the vegetable fuel that is available in the territory,” the EU official said. In France, vegetation clearance obligations currently apply only in certain areas, mainly along roads leading to homes rather than within forest plots. Helou argues that more needs to be done. Environmentalists say it’s the entire structure of our forests that needs to be rethought. “The fires burning in France, as well as the largest blaze near Madrid, are spreading through timber plantations. These monocultures are more than twice as likely to burn as natural forests,” the director of UK environmental group Earthsight, Samuel Lawson, said in a LinkedIn post on Sunday. This issue is particularly important during replanting, Sylvain Angerand, director of French association Canopée told France Inter last week. According to him, France is increasing wildfire risks by replacing diverse broadleaf forests with fire-prone maritime pine plantations – especially in the Landes region that is now burning. Helou, representing the planters of such forests, disagrees. “Under the conditions we are experiencing today, everything burns, broadleaf forests or conifers, highly diverse forests or less diverse ones,” he said. “The real problem is climate change and how we prepare for it.”

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Data published by Samaritans and the Office for National Statistics in the UK has highlighted an increase in the number of deaths by suicide, particularly among men between 45 – 54. This is of significant concern to the forestry sector where a large proportion of the workforce is male and fall into this high-risk group. Source: Timberbiz People working in the forestry industry are also frequently exposed to other risk factors for poor mental health (rural isolation, lack of financial stability, and transient nature of job roles). In 2024, growing concern, driven by deaths within the community, and increasing reports of pressure, prompted forestry professionals to come together and advocate for better well-being, identify industry-related stressors, and provide useful tools and interventions to help. An animation produced by the Royal Forestry Society with funding from the Forestry Commission sheds light on the experience of tree workers when the public respond negatively to essential forestry work. In the 2025 Breaking Points Survey a recurring theme among foresters and arborists was the impact of verbal abuse in response to their work. The video aims to show why felling trees is necessary for managing habitats, keeping public spaces safe and producing sustainable materials, and why an angry response to local forestry workers doesn’t help them or the trees they manage. To better understand the scale and nature of the issue, the working group commissioned the Breaking Points survey in the summer of 2025 designed to identify the key stressors felt by people working in the forestry sector. The Breaking Points Report brings together the findings of the survey to provide clear evidence to support the lived experiences that drove the concern of this working group. It is intended to inform and guide future interventions, supporting organisations to improve mental health and well-being for those working in the forestry sector. “By exploring the experiences of people across the forestry workforce, this report highlights the special nature and severity of the challenges they face, and also the opportunities we have to better support them and make our forestry workforce more resilient. We simply must address the mental wellbeing of those who work in our sector, and I sincerely hope this report will provide the evidence and impetus to bring about the change we need to see,” Christopher Williams – Royal Forestry Society said. Most people working in forestry know someone who has been severely affected by issues surrounding mental health. It’s not always the big things. Sometimes it’s the tone. The pressure. The silence. View the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMUyqSZG6Xw

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HQPlantations has released an Expression of Interest (EOI) for harvest and haulage services across its South East Queensland plantation estate. Source: Timberbiz The harvest volume is approximately 600,000 tonnes per annum from Fraser Coast Plantations, Beerburrum Plantations and Bribie Island Plantations. The harvest capacity sought is 5-7 harvesting crews including harvesting, extraction and log loading. The harvest contract term is for five years. The commencement date is from 1 July 2027. There are multiple contract packages available. Interested parties can access the EOI documentation below and register their interest via the online registration form. Any questions: Kevin Ford Project Commercial Lead Email: kevin.ford@hqplantations.com.au Submission of an EOI is a registration of interest only and does not guarantee participation in any subsequent procurement process. The registration of interest form is at https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Ny3BvTV-XEORmjE6gpD-24UnKUrCK7NEsoqpfzb2vSNUODVDNE5SUUNZS01WSVg4UUtZOTBHSFhaWC4u More information is available to download here.

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