Transcript of Wwf press release tvm
- 1. WWF-India & ITC join hands to engage children in
promoting the use of recycled andforest certified productsWWF-India
and ITC Limited, a participant in the GFTN, have identified the
potential to engagechildren to promote the use of recycled and
forest certified products and thereby contributingtowards
conservation of forest and biodiversity.WWF India as part of Global
Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) initative organised a
discussionmeeting on "forest certification and biodiversity
conservation" as a side event to IndianBiodiversity Congress
2010.In this initiative the school children collect used notebooks,
newspapers and other paper basedproducts which will be procured by
ITC through a systematic programme with the respectiveschools and
colleges and in return the children will be getting better returns
than the prevailingmarket prices for such used paper products as an
incentive for greaterparticipation.The meeting was attended by
around 80 participants, including students from various schoolsand
colleges. This was supported by EC SWICH Asia programme.Dr R V
Varma, Chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board, Dr H D Kulkarni,
Vice President( Plantations), ITC Limited, and Dr T R Manoharan,
Head- Forest Programme, WWF India haveaddressed the participants
and shared their views."Unless more forest and well managed
plantations are certified the industry would find it difficultto
source certified forest products domestically. Therefore, besides
industry associations, there isan urgent need for active
participation of civil society at large to establish collaboration
withgovernment and non-governmental institutions to get more areas
certified" said Dr T RManoharan, Head- Forest Programme, WWF
India.While speaking at the occasion Dr. Kulkarni, Vice President
(Plantations), ITC Limited, has said"if you do not get forest
certification we will be loosing the market. The requirement of
wood canbe met from outside the forest through Argo forestry".After
a series of successful business to business (B2B) meetings,
training workshops, seminarsand field visits, WWF- India was
instrumental in bringing together the relevant stake holders
topromote forest certification in India.WWF has established the
Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) to facilitate trade
linksbetween companies committed to achieving and supporting
responsible forestry and therebycreates market conditions that help
conserve the worlds forests while providing economic andsocial
benefits for the businesses and people that depend on
them.GFTN-India was launched on 3rd December 2008 with a view to
facilitate Indian companies tojoin this global
network.KeywordsWWF-India & ITC Limited, Conservation,
recycled, forest certified products, GFTN, Global Forestand Trade
Network, Forest Certification, responsible forestry, Dr H D
Kulkarni, Dr. T.R.Manoharan, Head- Forest Programme, WWF India,
biodiversity, students, school
- 2. info@prinindia.com*For more information, please contact:*Dr
T R ManoharanHead- Forest Programme & GFTN-IndiaWWF-India172- B
Lodi Estate, New Delhi-110003Email: tmanoharan@wwfindia.net