A Switch to Sustainable Rattan Production and Supply

To ensure rattan harvesting and processing do not endanger forests and wildlife, but offer new sources of long-term income for rural people, WWF is engaged in an ambitious project with communities and companies in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

The end goal is to help improve management of rattan in the Greater Mekong region.
 
/ ©: WWF
Switch to Sustainable Rattan project logo
© WWF
WWF’s approach is based on switching from overexploited rattan resources to a more sustainable rattan product supply chain, addressing the whole supply chain, from “seed to shelf”.

Objective

Securing credible forest certification - Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Fair Trade - as well as establishing a more sustainable production system together with the rattan industry and the people depending on it.

WWF is doing this by:

  • developing forest management plans with the communities
  • training pre-processors and traders on management and clean production
  • supporting the establishment of market and business links along the supply chain
  • organizing stakeholder workshops to support better legislation
  • promoting FSC and Fair Trade certification of the forests as well as the products
     

Vision

A sustainable rattan industry which provides:

  • a financial incentive to maintain 50,000 hectares of forest in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
  • cleaner processing methods
  • attractive rattan products for the international market
/ ©: WWF Laos
Rattan project manger working with villagers, Laos, Greater Mekong.
© WWF Laos

Rattan project news

Where we are headed

  • By 2010 - 100 communities in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam will be engaged in sustainable rattan production.
  • By 2011 – 40% of all targeted small and medium enterprises in the supply chain will be actively engaged in cleaner rattan production. 15% of processing industries will provide environmentally friendly products to European and worldwide markets.
  • By 2015 – 50% of the rattan processing industry in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam will be environmentally cleaner and more competitive within regional and worldwide markets, generating better economic returns.

Related resources

  • This project is funded by the European Union (EU), with co-financing from the international retailer IKEA and the German development finance institution (DEG).
  • / ©: EU
  • / ©: Ikea
  • / ©: DEG

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
Find out more about tigers, one of the mos iconic species of our planet.

see all WWF gifts

Building a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence.