MEDIA RELEASEFSC Australia Public Forum announced

Turning the Tide, Global Insights and Local Relevance

Australia’s sustainable forestry industry comes together at FSC Australia’s Public Forum

For Immediate ReleaseTuesday 20th March 2018: Australia’s leading forest certification organisation, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC Australia), will bring together key players in Australia’s sustainable forestry industry at their public forum.

The forum will take place: Thursday 22nd March, 2-6pm at the Library at the Dock, Docklands.

The forum will provide insights, updates and news relating to the forestry, retail, and sustainability sectors.

FSC globally has recently announced two major initiatives that will shift the forestry industry towards sus-tainability, and boost efforts to protect against climate change.

- Vancouver Declaration , part of FSC’s wider ambition to help businesses meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Commitment urges companies to pledge to work towards more sustain-able sourcing of forest products. Announced at the FSC General Assembly, October 2017.

- Bonn Initiative , commitment to establishing an evidence base proving the benefits of FSC certification on climate change. Announced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23), November 2017

Attendees will be able to engage with FSC International Director General, Kim Carstensen. The two forum sessions will cover the domestic forestry industry as well as branding and sustainable business (session details on page 2).

The forum is supported by: Bunning’s (event partner), Australian Paper and Tetra Pak (major sponsors), Wilderness Society, BioPak, Officeworks, GreenEcoBuy, Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA), and WWF

FSC certification increasing in Australia Locally, FSC certifies 1.2 million hectares of forests to full FSC Forest Management standards, an increase of 37% since 2012.

FSC influential in consumer decisions Australian consumers believe in the importance of responsible forestry, and this is a strong driver of forest product purchasing behavior, along with price and quality. Awareness of the FSC label is 1 in 3 for Australians.

Media Release: 7th February 2018 1 of 3

Responsible Forest Management Australia Limited t/as FSC Australia FSC® F000201

Melbourne: Level 1, 458 Swanston St, Carlton, Victoria 3051 T (03) 9329 9984 http://au.fsc.org

MEDIA RELEASEFSC Australia Public Forum announced

Turning the Tide, Global Insights and Local Relevance

Sara Gipton, FSC Australia CEO: “FSC Australia is proud to bring together our diverse stakeholders, from academia, communities, business, government, the environmental movement, and industry to discuss re-sponsible forestry, making sure that our forests remain for all and for future generations.

We are excited to host the FSC Global Director, Kim Carstensen, and to discuss how the FSC standards and brand can benefit both forests and business.”

Clive Duncan, Bunnings’ Director Marketing and Merchandising: “Bunnings’ commitment to respons-ible timber sourcing has been in place since 2001. We understand our responsibility to ensure that the communities where we source timber derive direct and long term benefit from well managed forestry opera-tion and are proud to be providing Australian and New Zealand customers with a range of FSC products including the first certified responsibly sourced Indonesian Merbau decking. We are very pleased to be supporting the forum which brings together key FSC stakeholders.”

Manjula Murugesan, Tetra Pak Oceania Environment Manager: “The FSC label is a trusted, third-party endorsement. It assures our customers and consumers that the wood and paper products they buy come from forests and communities that are healthy and sustainable. FSC empowers our customers to take dir-ect action to stop deforestation, drive demand for responsible forestry practices, and increase consumer awareness on the importance of their purchasing decisions.”

Kim Carstensen has been FSC Director General since October 2012. He has a proven track record as a global leader within the environment and development sectors, including former roles with Fair-GreenSolutions and WWF, which make him extremely well-suited to consolidate FSC’s position as a global leader in responsible forest certification. Read more from the Director General on his blog, The Root of the Matter.

Carstensen is looking forward to speaking with Australia businesses, stakeholders, community representat-ives and the environment movement about forestry at a local and global level to ensure that action contin-ues to prepare us for a positive, prosperous future – a future that doesn’t deplete the planet of this import-ant natural resource.

Forestry Branding

Kim Carstensen, Director General, FSC International Tim Cronin, Senior Manager Species Conservation, WWF

Dr Jacki Schirmer, Associate Professor, University of Canberra Rochelle Lake, Head of Marketing, Asaleo Care

Ric Sinclair, Managing Director, Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA)

Manjula Murugesan, Environment Manager –Oceania, Tetra Pak

Nick Capobianco, Senior Lead Auditor, SCS Global Services Howard Parry-Husbands, CEO, Pollinate

Media enquiries: Sanjeewani Pathirage s.pathirage@au.fsc.org + 61 400 545 398

Media Spokesperson: Sara Gipton CEO

Media Release: 7th February 2018 2 of 3

Responsible Forest Management Australia Limited t/as FSC Australia FSC® F000201

Melbourne: Level 1, 458 Swanston St, Carlton, Victoria 3051 T (03) 9329 9984 http://au.fsc.org

MEDIA RELEASEFSC Australia Public Forum announced

Turning the Tide, Global Insights and Local Relevance

Please see backgrounder for more detailed information about FSC Australia

Media Release: 7th February 2018 3 of 3

Responsible Forest Management Australia Limited t/as FSC Australia FSC® F000201

Melbourne: Level 1, 458 Swanston St, Carlton, Victoria 3051 T (03) 9329 9984 http://au.fsc.org