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Unity is strength

Sponsors

For the past eight months, the Chilean Biomass Association, Achbiom; the Association of Forestry Contractors AG, Acoforag; the Chilean Wood Corporation, Corma; the Native Forest Owners Association, Aprobosque; and the Small and Medium-Sized Timber Enterprises Guild, Pymemad—trade organizations that make up the forestry sector—have committed to working together to defend our work, promote good practices, and propose a future vision for the public and society.

This is how two important initiatives gain momentum. One of them is the Good Wood program, which seeks to improve traceability and accurately verify the legal origin and destination of timber in trade, thereby reducing the rampant theft of wood that currently fuels an illegal business worth $70 million dollars a year and funds illicit groups and associations in the southern macrozone. This program also indirectly benefits forestry workers, as legal and traceable wood prevents informal labor and ensures work with contracts, contributions, and daily-related insurance.

The second initiative is Future Wood, a network of regional organizations related to the forestry sector that includes trade associations, workers' federations, universities, NGOs, neighborhood councils, community networks, and local communities. Their goal is to ensure that native forests and productive forests in the country are valued for their significant contribution to a nature-based bioeconomy, climate change control, and the sustainable development of regions and the nation. This initiative aims to create a forward-looking proposal that acknowledges past mistakes without dwelling on them, inviting all related stakeholders and territories to participate.

Both initiatives are a sign that when common goals exist, the forestry sector knows how and can sit down to talk, that the will moves toward a shared destination, and that our persistent and eternal differences do not divide us. This unity must keep us together now more than ever, as strong political winds of change blow, a new government takes office—whose priorities for our sector remain unknown—and a new foundational charter is drafted, set to be completed by July 2022.
The scenario is uncertain. We must stand together.
Unity is strength.