1. 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. 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