= TEAKNET - ITTO Teak

ITTO Teak Mekong

Welcome to the official page of the ITTO - Teak Mekong project "Enhancing the conservation and sustainable management of teak forests and legal and sustainable wood supply chains in the Greater Mekong Sub-region". In this page we will give regular update of the project activities in the partner countries in Mekong sub-region.

About ITTO Teak Mekong project

Given the importance of teak's prominent position in the global timber market and its potential to contributing to national economic growth and local livelihoods, the International Topical Timber Council (ITTC) at its 53rd Session in Peru in 2017 approved an activity entitled "Enhancing Teak Management" under ITTO Biennial Work Program for 2018-2019 as a comprehensive global activity to improve the management and marketing of both natural and planted teak in all three tropical regions. The ITTO project "Enhancing the conservation and sustainable management of teak forests and legal and sustainable wood supply chains in the Greater Mekong Sub-region", is funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), Government of Germany. The first stage of this activity in the Greater Mekong Sub-region consisting of 5 participating countries began with the launch of the project in Bangkok, Thailand on 23rd April, 2019.The participating countries include Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The project period is for 3 years (March 2019-Februarly 2022)

The specific objectives are:
  1. The conservation of teak genetic resources, sustainable management and use of natural teak forest and market access of teak from legal sources.
  2. Community based smallholder teak forest management and agroforestry systems with improved legal and sustainable supply chains
  3. Regional and international collaboration, information sharing and knowledge management, networking, policy development and outreach on the sustainable management of teak forests.

TEAKNET involvement

Teaknet is involved in the project with respect to the 3rd objective. The specific functions and responsibilities of Teaknet include:

  • Produce outreach material and short project newsletter online in a regular way, once in two months highlighting the implementation of project activities and teak- based research and development information including teak supply and consumption
  • Support the dissemination of the outreach and training material through a user-friendly, easily accessible webpage to support regional forest policy development for the sustainable management of teak forests. The webpage will be hosted by both TEAKNET and Kasetsart university, Thailand.
  • Support the planning and organization of the 4th World Teak Conference in 2020 in Ghana.

Workshops/Conferences

2 nd Regional Workshop "Sustainable Value-Added Teak Products for Green Economy: Lessons from the BMEL-ITTO Teak Project in Mekong" , 09:00 - 16:30 hrs. Friday, 2 September 2022, Rama Garden Hotel, Bangkok

Teak is a highly celebrated timber in the tropics and Mekong is one of the major teak growing regions based on rich natural teak forests with increasing teak plantations. The 2 nd Regional Workshop on "Sustainable Value-Added Teak Products for Green Economy" is organized in conjunction with the 3 rd FORTROP' International Conference to celebrate the 85 th Anniversary of the Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University. The overall objective of this workshop is to increase the role of teak forests and products in the development of green economy in the Mekong region, taking into account the experiences and lessons learned from the implementation of the BMEL-ITTO Teak project that has empowered local communities and smallholders in teak forest planation and management and promoted public-private partnerships for legal and sustainable teak supply chains The workshop also aims to identify recommendations for the sustainable production and consumption of teak products in the framework of the Bio-circular Green Economic Model.

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National Teak Forum- Sustainable Teak Value Chains for Sustainable Local Development,19-20 February 2020, Vientiane & Luang Prabang, Lao PDR

In Lao PDR, Teak is a priority species with natural teak forest covers an estimated 68,500 hectares as on 2010. The Forestry Department promotes community based teak plantations that estimated to cover about 36,000 ha, mainly in the provinces of Luang Prabang and Boeko.

This forum, provide opportunities to discuss the issues of sustainable teak value chains in Lao PDR by reviewing lessons from promotion of teak based sustainable forest management by the private sector and community forest enterprises. It will also contribute to enhancing teak value chain research and sustainable smallholder teak forestry in lower Mekong. The program is supported by ITTO and Germany's Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

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Regional Workshop on "Enhancing the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Teak Forests and Legal and Sustainable Wood Supply Chains in the Greater Mekong Sub-region", 24-27 September 2019, Yangon, Myanmar

To improve the management and marketing of both natural and planted teak in all the tropical regions, ITTO, Japan has established and activity entitled “Enhancing Teak Management”. With the support of the Federal Republic of Germany through the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), ITTO is currently executing a teak project in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) covering 5 countries, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The first regional workshop on sustainable teak management is being organised by the Forest Research institute of Myanmar in collaboration with Cambodia's Forestry Administration (FA), Lao PDR's National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI), Thailand's Royal Forest Department (RFD) and Kasetsart University (KU) and Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences (VAFS) as well as the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO). Participation by invitation only.

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Inception Workshop and Launching Ceremony of ITTO Teak project: "Enhancing the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Teak Forests and Legal and Sustainable Wood Supply Chains in the Greater Mekong Sub-region" (PP-A/54-331), 23-25 April 2019, Bangkok

Considering the prominent position of Teak in the global timber market and its potential to contribute to national economic growth and local livelihoods, the International Topical Timber Organisation (ITTO), Japan is executing Teak project approved by its International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) meeting in Peru (2017), an activity entitled “Enhancing Teak Management” under ITTO Biennial Work Program for 2018-19 as a comprehensive global support program to improve the management and marketing of both natural and plant teak in all three topical regions. The project is financed by The Federal Republic of Germany through the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The first stage of activity in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) covering 5 countries, viz., Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam commenced its activity since March 2019. .

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ITTO- BMEL Teak Newsletter

International Tropicl Timber Organization (ITTO), Japan has recently launched 2nd phase of the ITTO-BMEL Teak project entitled 'Promoting Quality Timber Production in Smallholders and Community-based Teak and Other Valuable Species Plantations in the Tropics' in 6 countries in Asia Pacific and Togo in West Africa starting October 2023 funded by Govt. of Germany (BMEL) for 3 years. The bi-monthly online Teak Mekong Newsletter is now re-named as ITTO-BMEL Teak Newsletter to reflect the changes in the start of 2nd phase of the project is continued to be published through TEAKNET website as well as FB page and project webpage of Kasetsart University, Thailand.

Teak Mekong Newsletter

TEAK Mekong Newsletter support and facilitates teak networking in the Mekong sub-region through ITTO member countries and partners, and support sharing lessons of the project results through short news release, occasional papers, project related teak-based research and development information. The bi-monthly newsletter is released online through TEAKNET webpage www.teaknet.org and co-hosted by Kasetsart University, Thailand

Reports

Teak in Mekong for a Sustainable Future

Teak in Mekong for a Sustainable Future is the outcomes of the ITTO executed Teak Mekong Project in the Greater Mekong Sub-region implemented with the financial support of the Federal Ministry of Food Agriculture, Government of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMEL) with the participating countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The book comprises six main sections dealing mainly with the teak distribution across the GMS region, silviculture and teak improvement, SFM and certification, teak genetics, policy and regional and international cooperation and guidance nad recommendations for promoting SFM of natural and planted teak forests in the tropics.

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Lao Teak Forum- Sustainable Teak Value Chains for Sustainable Local Development,19-20 February 2020, Vientiane & Luang Prabang, Lao PDR

About 50 participants in the Lao Teak Forum: Sustainable Teak Value Chains for Sustainable Local Development reviewed opportunities and challenges for sustainable teak value chains in Lao PDR in the workshop organised at Vansana Riverside Hotel, Vientiane coinciding with 2nd PSC Meeting of the ITTO Teak Mekong Project, "Enhancing Conservation and Sustainable Management of Teak Forests and Legal and Sustainable Wood Supply Chains in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region" (ITTO PP-A/54-331)" now under implementation in the five participating countries viz., Thailand, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Vietnam and Cambodia.

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Regional Workshop on "Enhancing the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Teak Forests and Legal and Sustainable Wood Supply Chains in the Greater Mekong Sub-region", 24-27 September 2019, Yangon, Myanmar

The first Regional Workshop on 'Sustaining Teak Management in Mekong Basin' was organized on 24-27 September, 2019 at Yangon, Myanmar as part of a ITTO supported teak management program entitled "Enhancing Conservation and Sustainable Management of Teak Forests and Legal and Sustainable Wood Supply Chains in the Greater Mekong Sub-region" currently under implementation in the 5 countries of Mekong sub-region with financial support of German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The workshop was jointly organized by International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), Japan, Kasetsart University, Thailand and Forest Department of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Myanmar.

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